Muro-ji
Nyonin Koya
Researched and translated with AI assistance. Every claim is linked to its source, but errors get through, so check the official site for opening times, fees and closures.About
In short
Transmitted as first built on this site by En no Gyoja Ozunu on the vow of Emperor Tenmu, its halls and pagoda were raised around the founding of the Heian capital.
Quick facts
- Address
- 78 Muro, Uda, Nara
About this place
Muro-ji is in Uda, Nara. It is transmitted that En no Gyoja Ozunu, the founder of Shugendo, first built a temple on this site on the vow of Emperor Tenmu. At the end of the Nara period, on the occasion of prayers for the long life of Prince Yamabe, later Emperor Kanmu, the eminent Kofuku-ji priest Kenkyo received an imperial command, and shortly after the move to the Heian capital his disciple Shuen raised the halls and pagoda. Later Shintai, a disciple of Kukai and a friend of Shuen, entered the mountain bringing Shingon esoteric teaching, and the initiation hall and the founder’s hall were put in order. The temple is called Nyonin Koya, but its own guide gives no account of where that name comes from.
Origin and history
It is transmitted that En no Gyoja Ozunu, the founder of Shugendo, first built a temple on this site on the vow of Emperor Tenmu.
At the end of the Nara period, on the occasion of prayers for the long life of Prince Yamabe, later Emperor Kanmu, the eminent Kofuku-ji priest Kenkyo received an imperial command, and shortly after the move to the Heian capital his disciple Shuen raised the halls and pagoda.
Later Shintai, a disciple of Kukai and a friend of Shuen, entered the mountain bringing Shingon esoteric teaching, and the initiation hall and the founder’s hall were put in order.
What it is locally associated with
First built by En no Gyoja, by transmission
It is transmitted that En no Gyoja Ozunu, founder of Shugendo, first built a temple here on the vow of Emperor Tenmu.
folk traditionFrom prayers for a prince’s long life
Prayers for the long life of Prince Yamabe, later Emperor Kanmu, occasioned Kenkyo’s imperial command, and his disciple Shuen raised the halls and pagoda.
documented historyShingon comes up the mountain
Shintai, a disciple of Kukai and a friend of Shuen, brought Shingon esoteric teaching here, and the initiation hall and founder’s hall were put in order.
documented history
This temple is called Nyonin Koya. Its own guide, however, gives no account of where the name comes from, so this page records only that the name exists and does not explain it.
At the beginning stands En no Gyoja Ozunu. The founder of Shugendo is transmitted to have first built a temple here on the vow of Emperor Tenmu. On this list, Kinpusen-ji in Yoshino and Tenkawa Daibenzaiten both put the same man at their beginnings.
What brought the halls into being was one prince’s life. Prayers for the long life of Prince Yamabe, later Emperor Kanmu, were the occasion on which the Kofuku-ji priest Kenkyo received an imperial command — that is the sequence the temple transmits. Buildings raised over a royal body recur across this list: Yakushi-ji was founded in prayer for an empress’s recovery, Shin-Yakushi-ji in prayer for Emperor Shomu’s.
The esoteric teaching arrived afterwards. Shintai, a disciple of Kukai and a friend of Shuen, brought it up the mountain, and the initiation hall and founder’s hall were put in order.
The temple’s guide states no benefit, so this page carries no tag for what may be prayed for.
Claims and evidence levels 2
- Muro-ji transmits that En no Gyoja Ozunu first built a temple on this site on the vow of Emperor Tenmu. folk tradition
- Prayers for the long life of Prince Yamabe, later Emperor Kanmu, occasioned Kenkyo’s imperial command, and his disciple Shuen raised the halls and pagoda. documented history
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Sources
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