Higashi Honganji

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“Higashi-san” (Respected East) is a local nickname for Higashi Honganji, the “Eastern Monastery of the Original Vow”. It’s a beautiful Buddhist temple in Kyoto, made of wood. This tag connects pictures from both of my visits there.

Higashi-san is one of a pair with Nishi-san, or Nishi Honganji, where I’ve only been once. Both temples are partly open to the public and function as centres of the two main sects Jōdo Shinshū, a Medieval branch of Buddhism traditionally popular with the masses in Japan. Both—that is Nishi-san and Higashi-san—each contain two great halls. One hall in each temple honours the founder of Jōdo Shinshū and is called the Goeidō, or Founder’s Hall; that’s the externally bigger and more central of the two. The other great hall in each temple, the Amidadō, honours the Buddha.