Virtual Fushimi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 Gokuraku-ji Temple

     Gokuraku-ji Temple is a branch temple of Chion-in Temple.  It was founded by Priest Sonshu.  He was born in Kaizuka, Musashi Province, and entered into the Buddhist priesthood in Zojo-ji Temple.

     In June, 1623, Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651), the third tycoon of the Tokugawa Shogunate, visited Kyoto.  Sonshu accompanied the tycoon, and embraced Priest Sonsho (1562-1620). In 1625, Sonshu founded Gokuraku-ji Temple.

     In the temples of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism, the Amitabha Tathagata statue usually stands to greet the dying, but the statue of this temple sits in an ascetic practice, which can be usually found in the Tendai Sect temples.

     Gokuraku-ji Temple might have belonged to the Tendai Sect with another temple name.  And Sonshu might have converted the temple to the Pure Land Sect, changing the temple name too.