Many of the present Kennin-ji buildings date from the 18th century or later. Only the Chokushi-mon (Imperial Messenger’s Gate), also called the Yatate-mon (Arrow Gate) from the scars left upon it during the civil wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, remains from the early period of the temple’s existence. This black gate at the southern edge of the temple precincts is said to have once been a portion of the nearby Rokuhara headquarters of the Taira clan.
In 1763, the restoration of the Kennin-ji Temple began in earnest, both through new construction and by moving of buildings that belonged to other temples to the Kennin-ji site. The Butsu-den (Main Hall or Buddha Hall), originally at the Tofuku-ji Temple just south of the main area of Kyoto, was put in place in 1763 and was handsomely refurbished. What is now the Abbot’s apartment (Hojo) originally was a temple building from the Ankoku-ji Temple in Hiroshima Prefecture, a structure built by the first Ashikaga Shogun, Takauji, in the 14th century. It was moved from Ankoku-ji in the 1590s. Near the south gate of the temple grounds is the Marishi-ten Shrine, which was built in 1327 by Seisetsu, a Chinese priest who is said to have brought the clay from China to create the image of Marishi (Queen of Heaven) with its white face and colorful clothes, and who is here riding upon seven golden boars. The shrine has always been a popular one among the geisha of the Gion district.
Among the most noted treasures of the monastery are the paintings of Kaihoku Yusho (1533–1615). In the late 1590s, a few years before his death, Priest Ekei, the abbot of the Ankoku-ji, moved to Kennin-ji and, with the financial help of Hideyoshi, he began the restoration of the fire-and storm-damaged Abbot’s Quarters. In 1598, he had his artist friend Kaihoku Yusho create five sets of painted sliding doors (fusuma) for the Hojo. Yusho is noted for the directness and vitality of the straight line, which succeeds in simplifying technique—as would be expected in paintings for Zen monasteries. He painted landscapes and dragons at the Kennin-ji Temple, which holds his largest body of work. In 1934, a typhoon inflicted serious damage on the temple, and the paintings were remounted as 50 hanging scrolls. Done in the Chinese “impressionistic” style, the paintings present vistas of temple buildings with hints of trees and hills about the structures. They are now in various subtemples of the complex.
The Zenkyo-an subtemple in the grounds of the Kennin-ji was also restored in 1599 after the damage suffered by the main temple. Here, Yusho created a dozen panels of pine, bamboo and plum trees in black ink on a gold leaf ground, based on a theme in Chinese paintings. Other screens by Yusho are in Kanzen-ji (another subtemple), as is a pair of six-fold screens in the Reito-in in ink and light color. The subjects of the Reito-in screens are those of scholars talking or viewing the distant scene. Many of these paintings can be viewed during the November showing of the temple’s treasures.
Kennin-ji is noted not only for the Zen faith which was here brought to Japan but also the monastery’s connection with tea. Although Kobo Daishi (Kukai) introduced tea into Japan from China in the 800s, it did not become fashionable until it was reintroduced by Eisai. Eisai brought the plant and beverage to Japan for religious purposes, since it helped to keep monks alert during long nightly devotions. It also served as a mild medicine in certain illnesses. Eisai wrote a book about the value of tea, and a simple tea ceremony that began at Kennin-ji was later developed into the highly formal and stylized approach of Sen-no-Rikyu and others in the late 16th century and thereafter. Legend holds that Eisai’s devotion to tea was supported by the young Shogun Sanetomo when Eisai weaned him from wine to tea drinking.
Each spring the Shogun required the tea dealers of Uji to present their first tea leaves in Kyoto, a crop that arrived packed in large ceramic jars. In memory of those times, a procession of tea jars is carried each year on May 2nd from Kennin-ji to Yasaka Shrine along Yamato-ojo-dori and then Shijo-dori.
5 YASUI KOMPIRA SHRINE
At the beginning of this walk, it was indicated that a mystery surrounded the Yasui Kompira Shrine, where this walk ends. Thus, perhaps, it is well to move from so serious an institution as Kennin-ji to a shrine that can insure one’s well-being when traveling. The Yasui Kompira Shrine is between Higashi-oji-dori and Kennin-ji, to the west of the Yasaka Pagoda. The shrine can most easily be located by starting from the Higashiyama-Yasui bus stop (midway between the Kiyomizu-michi and the Shijo-dori stops) and then by walking to the west. Turn left at the first through street, and the second street on the left leads to the shrine. (The shrine is open during daylight hours. Its museum (Kompira-Emakan) is generally open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., but is closed on Mondays.)
Kompira is a deity about whose identification there is confusion. (Kompira originally was the Indian deity Kumhira, the crocodile god of the Ganges River in India.) Some say he is one of the various Shinto deities, while others claim he was a nearly Japanese emperor. Nonetheless, he is a being who is worshipped and who is found to be efficacious in answering prayers from his believers despite his anonymous nature.
In the 9th century, a temple to Kompira was erected in Shikoku, perhaps by Kukai (Kobo Daishi), and a number of similar temples sprang up in time all over Japan. In 1872, the Meiji government made the Shikoku Temple a Shinto shrine (as were other Kompira units) to Okuninushi-no-mikoto, god of Izumo, but it remains unclear as to who the deity is who resides there. Be that as it may, Kompira is a very popular deity who is invoked by travelers and seamen in times of need or in gratitude for past favors.
Down the narrow street from Higashi-ojidori, you arrive at a shrine that is not unlike other Shinto shrines. The Heiden (Offertory) has racks to the north and south of its platform on which ema have been hung. Ema are prayer boards on which one writes a prayer or a wish. They usually bear a depiction of the deity or of a scene connected with the deity of the shrine. Thousands of ema, some of which are centuries old, are on view in the Shrine Museum. Some of these ema have traditional horse pictures, while others are of sumo wrestlers or boats, since Kompira is the seaman’s patron. Painted on wood, some of these ema are by noted artists of the Edo period (1603– 1868), when such pictures were given to shrines by devotees.
Beyond the Heiden to the west is the Honden (Spirit Hall) with its Kara (Chinese-style) roof. Additional ancillary buildings are on either side of the main shrine buildings, the museum being to the east (in front of the Heiden). A curious stone with a hole in its center is to the left of the Heiden. It is covered with fude, the name stickers that pilgrims usually affix to the gates of Buddhist temples, an indication to the deity that one has given reverence to him. Strangely enough, the shrine now has a Glass Gallery with objects of Art Nouveau glass.
GETTING THERE
Begin the tour at Chinko-ji. The remaining sites are nearby. To reach Chinko-ji, take bus 206 or 207, which travels north and south on Higashioji-dori, to the Kiyomizu-michi bus stop (the same stop as in Tour 1). From there, walk west on Matsubara-dori (the westward extension of Kiyomizu-michi) for one long block. Turn north to Chinko-ji, which lies at the end of this side street.
Walking Tour 5
GION AREA
The Gion Shrine, the Pleasure Quarters and the Floating World
1 Yasaka Shrine (Gion Shrine) 八坂神社
2 The Pleasure Quarters
花街 （祇園、先斗町、嶋原）
3 Ichi-riki Ochaya 一力茶屋
4 Central Kyoto 京都中心街（寺町通）
The section of Kyoto bounded by Sanjo-dori (Third Street) and Shijo-dori (Fourth Street) on both sides of the Kamo-gawa (Kamo River) can truly be called Kyoto’s “Pleasure Quarters.” There are historic reasons for this, primarily because the section of the city to the east of the Kamo River encompasses the Gion district which, since the late 1500s, has been the geisha and ochaya (tea house) section, and here it was that kabuki also had its beginnings. Although the ranks of geisha have thinned in modern times, the geisha and the ochaya still have their places here, and kabuki continues to delight its followers on the stage of the Minami-za (South Theater) in Gion.
The area to the west of the Kamo River offers a different type of pleasure, since the streets between Karasuma-dori on