It was not my original plan to visit Higashi Honganji. Since our trip was really short, we didn’t have enough time to visit Ginkakuji Temple like my original plan. So I had to adjust my plan. I had not even heard of this place until we were having dinner on our first night, but Higashi(East) Honganji became an option.
I looked up the historical background of this place to explain it to my dad who loves this kind of historical stories. Tokugawa again! That's why this gate is big!
It turns out, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun, ordered the construction of this huge temple. His goal? To counterbalance the original Honganji Temple (now called Nishi(West) Honganji). He didn’t want the original temple to hold too much power, so he funded to build a new temple to weaken its influence.
Huge and Impressive!
The gate alone was quite impressive.
Then, look at the size of buildings. One of them must be Daeungjeon (the Buddha Hall) but I not sure which one is it. But they both are weirdly huge. I feel overwhelmed. For me, it was somewhat like showing off power. Maybe others might feel the majesty of Buddha or sth divine...
Honestly, I’ve never seen a temple like this in my life. It was grand, gold-covered, and too luxurious— completely different from Korean temples. In Korea, Buddhism is more humble. Temples are never built on this kind of size. Normally in Korea, temples consist of several buildings like Main Buddha Hall, Amitabha Hall, and etc, not 2 buildings this massive. It was really impressive.
Luxurious Decorations
Look te the decoration of side gate! Gilded in gold again!
Higashi(East) Honganji are really richly decorated! Gold leaf decorations were everywhere.
Can you believe this is a Buddhist temple? Gold decorated Buddha? I know even in Korea, Buddah statue is made of Gold or sth goldish, but not like this. Gold on gold. Think of his life! Think what he said! (but I have to admit that it is overwhelming!)
And there is carvings of Bonghwang! (the translator says it is phoenixes. But in East Asia, it is not really "Phoenixes" that revives from the ashes. It is more like mythical bird that symbolizes royalty.) Bonghwang in Buddha's temple? Two totally different things were mixed together.
I felt like I could sense Tokugawa's presense. If I were the commoner back then, I probably would have been overwhelmed by the scale and decorations of this buildings and admired the ppl of higher ranks. Impress and domiante!
Re-construction 🔥
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed visiting Higashi(East) Honganji.
It is a temple that I have never experienced before. It was calm and peaceful unlike other crowded tourist spots. Most importantly, it is one of the few places in Kyoto you can visit for free. Aside from the fact that it is a bit off the main tourisit routes, I think it is worth visiting. Try this place if you have enough time.