Enshō-ji (円勝寺,Enshō-ji) was a formerBuddhist monastery in northeasternKyoto,Japan, endowed by Imperial consort Taiken-mon'in in fulfillment of a sacred vow.[1] It is known as one of the "Six Victorious Temples" (六勝寺,Rokushō-ji),[2] which encompass monastery complexes which enjoyed extravagant Imperial patronage from their inception. They are sometimes identified as the "Superlative Temples" or the "Shō Temples" because of the middle syllable of the temple name.[3]
This temple and the otherRokushō-ji establishments had a particular function within the Imperial"cloister government" (院政,insei). The Rokushō-ji were "sacred vow temples" (gogan-ji) built by imperial command following a precedent established by Emperor Shirakawa's Hosshō-ji.[4] Although these temple complexes were ostensibly established for a presumptively pious purpose,
the relationship of Emperors Shirakawa, Toba, Sutoku, and Konoe with Hosshō-ji and the other "imperial vow" temples and with the imperial residences that adjoined the temple complexes is quite revealing. Clearly the temples were not built simply as acts of piety but as ways of protecting estate income and a certain style of life. Evidently the building of new temples could serve as a coercive device to extract support from otherkuge families and to justify the use of public taxes for the benefit of members of the imperial-house, the religious intent giving support to the political interest.[5]
The Rokushō-ji were also called the six "Superiority Temples;" and each were uniquely dedicated to an aspect of esoteric Buddhistontology, as in
Enshō-ji, founded by Imperial consort Taikenmon'in (Shirakawa's adopted daughter and the mother of Emperor Sutoku) in 1128.[6] Enshō-ji was the only temple among the Rokushō-ji to have been built by a female royal rather than a male monarch.[7]
^abcdefgVarley, H. Paul. (1980). [Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359],Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley), p. 200.
^Hall, John Whitney et al. (1974).Medieval Japan: Essays in Institutional History, p. 21.
