Kodai-ji

Quick facts

Address

526 Shimokawaracho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto

About this place

Kodai-ji stands in Higashiyama, Kyoto. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s death, his wife Kita-no-Mandokoro — known as Nene, and as Kodaiin Kogetsuni after taking orders — founded it in 1606 to pray for his repose. In building it, Tokugawa Ieyasu gave large financial support out of the political calculation of the time, and the temple is said to have been magnificent as a result. In the seventh month of 1624, the priest Sanko of Kennin-ji was received as founding abbot and the temple took the name Kodai-ji.

Origin and history

Kodai-ji was founded in 1606 by Kita-no-Mandokoro — Nene, who took the religious name Kodaiin Kogetsuni — to pray for the repose of her husband Toyotomi Hideyoshi after his death.

In the building of it, Tokugawa Ieyasu gave large financial support out of the political calculation of the day, and the temple’s appearance is said to have been magnificent as a result.

In the seventh month of 1624, the priest Sanko of Kennin-ji was received as founding abbot, and the temple took the name Kodai-ji.

What it is locally associated with

• OriginFamily & Home

  To pray for a husband’s repose

  After Hideyoshi’s death his wife Nene founded the temple in 1606 to pray for his repose.

  documented history

• Origin

  Ieyasu’s financial support

  Tokugawa Ieyasu gave large financial support to the building, out of the political calculation of the time.

  documented history

• Origin

  A founding abbot in 1624

  In the seventh month of 1624 the priest Sanko of Kennin-ji was received as founding abbot and the temple took its name.

  documented history

Why this temple exists takes one line. A wife built it to pray for her husband’s repose — Nene founded it in 1606, after Hideyoshi died.

The temple sets one more line beside that. Most of the building cost came from Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the temple gives the reason as the political calculation of the day. A temple for Hideyoshi’s soul, funded by the man whose house would destroy Hideyoshi’s. The temple writes that and no more. Neither does this page.

The founding abbot arrived eighteen years after the building began, in 1624.

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Sources

1. 高台寺の歴史 — 高台寺 — Kodai-ji (accessed 2026-08-13)