Kongoshoji Temple

Located near the top of Mt. Asama, this temple protects the demon’s gate of Ise Jingu Shrine and was also known as the inner sanctuary of the shrine.

The temple is said to have been founded in the mid-6th century by Emperor Kinmyō, who ordered the monk Gyōdai to build Myōseidō, and in 825 during the Heian period (794-1185), Kūkai restored the temple as a center for esoteric Shingon Buddhism.

In the Muromachi period (1333-1573), the temple became the largest temple in Ise and Shima because of the syncretism between Buddhism and Shintoism, and because of its location to the northeast of Ise Jingu Shrine, it was associated with the Ise faith as a temple that protected the demon gate of the shrine.

In 1609, Terumasa Ikeda, lord of Himeji Castle and one of Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s seven generals, rebuilt the main hall, Maniden, which had been lost in a fire.

The main hall is a 7-kan, 6-kan, one-storied hipped roof with a 3-kan, hiwadabuki hiwadabuki roof, and is designated as an Important Cultural Property.

Several artifacts, including a sutra case inscribed in 1173 (the 3rd year of the Jouan Era), were found in the nearby Sutra Gamine, and the “Amida Sanzon Raigyo Zo (mirror with carved lines),” designated as a national treasure (archaeological material), can be seen at the Treasure House in the temple grounds.