Yasaka Koshindo, Kyoto京都八坂庚申堂（庚申信仰）
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- Japan · Kyoto Prefecture · Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto · Kinen-cho; formally named Kongoji Koshindo, affiliated with the Tendai school
- Coordinates
- 34.9983, 135.7787 Map ↗
- First built
- 960 (Tentoku 4) · Traditionally founded by the Tendai monk Jozokii; counted, with Shitennoji Koshindo in Osaka and Nara Koshindo, among the three great Koshindo halls of Japan.
Overview
Yasaka Koshindo, formally named Kongoji Koshindo, is traditionally said to have been founded in 960 by the Tendai monk Jozokii; together with Shitennoji Koshindo in Osaka and Nara Koshindo, it is counted among the three great Koshindo halls of Japan. The Koshin cult derives from the Daoist doctrine of the "Three Corpses" (sanshi): on the day designated gengshen (koshin), the Three Corpse worms ascend to Heaven to report a person's transgressions to the Director of Fates, and one must therefore keep an all-night vigil on that day — a doctrine of thoroughly Daoist origin. Ennin's Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law records his witnessing the observance of a gengshen vigil in Tang China in 838, an early record of the cult's transmission to Japan. After its transmission, it became thoroughly syncretized with the Buddhist deity Shomen Kongo, the Shinto deity Sarutahiko, and Shugendo; the Koshindo halls that survive today are, without exception, institutionally affiliated with Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines, none belonging to any Daoist religious body. Devotional Koshin societies flourished greatly in the Edo period and declined sharply after Shugendo was abolished in the Meiji era. Yasaka Koshindo is famous for the colorful kukuri-zaru ("bound monkey") charms that fill its courtyard, and is a well-known sight in Kyoto. This entry records a localized form taken by Daoist doctrine in Japan.
Highlights
- The Koshin cult derives from the Daoist doctrine of the Three Corpses
- Colorful kukuri-zaru charms
- Ennin's 838 witnessing of a gengshen vigil in Tang China
- One of Japan's three great Koshindo halls