Jigen-do (Important Cultural Property)
This was the memorial temple for the great monk Tenkai (1536–1643) who was posthumously given the honorary title of Jigen Daishi. Tenkai lived in the Nanko-bo temple on Mount Hiei and worked to restore Mount Hiei after it had been completely destroyed in 1571. He served as an advisor to three successive Tokugawa shoguns: Ieyasu, Hidetada, and Iemitsu. When Tenkai passed away at the age of 108, in 1643, the shogun Iemitsu (1604–1651) ordered this temple to be built in Tenkai’s memory. It enshrines a wooden image of Jigen Daishi in a sitting position.
On the western side of the Jigen-do is a memorial stupa honoring Emperor Kanmu built by Tenkai. It is surrounded by stone stupas in honor of Emperor Go-Yozei and Tosho Daigongen, the deified Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), who founded the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867). There are also stupas for Jigen Daishi, Emperor Go-Mizunoo (1596–1689), Nitta Yoshisada (1301–1338) who toppled the Kamakura shogunate (1185-1333), Murasaki Shikibu (978–1016), who wrote the Tale of Genji, the poetess Izumi Shikibu (976–1030), Sei Shonagon (966-1025) the author and poetess, and the graves of the post–Edo period Tendai abbots.
Jigen Daishi (Great Teacher with the eye of wisdom)