Kyoto - Enryakuji Temple

The Enryakuji Temple was once one of the mightiest temples in Japan. Founded in 788, at the behest of the Emperor Kammu, by a Buddha priest named Saicho (762-822). The temple belonged to a family which had come to Japan from China, after Saicho's return from a stay in China. The site of the temple, lying northeast of the city, was selected in order to ward off evil spirits coming from that direction. The growing political influence of the increasingly numerous monks, however, soon presented a threat to Kyoto, and accordingly Oda Nobunaga felt it necessary to destroy the temple. Although it was rebuilt by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and enlarged by Tokugawa Iemitsu the temple never recovered any degree of secular power.