Kondo Enryuji Hall Remains, Motsuji Temple
Kondo Enryuji was originally commissioned by Fujiwara no Motohira (1105–1157), the second Fujiwara lord to rule Hiraizumi, and once functioned as the primary worship hall of Motsuji Temple.
Azumakagami, a historical record of the Kamakura period (1185–1333), describes the hall as it appeared during the time of the Oshu Fujiwara clan: “The Kondo Enryuji Hall was studded with gold and silver and was made out of a precious rosewood tree. Because all kinds of jewels had been used to decorate it, the hall was splendid. It enshrined a 2.43 m statue of Yakushi Nyorai and the twelve gods of the zodiac.”
The statue of the Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of healing, enshrined at Kondo Enryuji was the first Buddha statue in Japan with crystal eyes. Although neither the hall nor its famous Buddha has survived to the present day, the original, massive foundation stones demonstrate the elaborate size of the hall, which once stood directly across the Oizumigaike Pond from the temple’s Great South Gate.