Buddhist temple
Shōren-in
青蓮院（しょうれんいん）
Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture
A Tendai monzeki temple at Awataguchi in Higashiyama, Kyoto, also called Awata Gosho. Its principal image is a mandala representing Shijōkō Nyorai by seed syllables (shuji), and it is said to be the only temple with this as its principal image.
English pages are the site’s own translations of its Japanese pages. The sources cited are in Japanese. 日本語で読む
Prayers associated with this place
Principal image: Shijōkō Nyorai (Shijōkō Nyorai mandala)
History and things to know
According to temple tradition, it originated as Shōrenbō, one of the residential lodgings that Saichō set up on Mt. Hiei; its beginning as a monzeki temple came in the late Heian period, when Cloistered Emperor Toba, devoted to Gyōgen, built halls in Kyoto and renamed it Shōren-in. It is also known as the place where Shinran was ordained under the third abbot, Jien, and during the Great Tenmei Fire of the Edo period it served as the temporary palace of Retired Empress Go-Sakuramachi.
Introduced by this site, based on materials from the shrine or temple and public bodies.
Before you visit
Shōgunzuka Seiryūden is a detached precinct on the summit of Higashiyama, in a different place from the main temple at Awataguchi.
Official website of the shrine or temple (may be in Japanese)
Sources (in Japanese)
- 青蓮院「御祭神・御本尊・由緒の公式案内」（2026-10-21 確認）
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