Gekkyo-in

Other Names: 指月山 (Shigetsu-zan)
Japanese: 月橋院 (Gekkyô-in)

Gekkyô-in is a Sôtô Zen temple in the Momoyama neighborhood of Fushimi, in southern Kyoto City. Its main object of worship is a statue of Shaka Nyorai.

During the construction of Fushimi castle, the temple was temporarily moved to the Nishijin neighborhood of central Kyoto, and was operated as a Shingon branch temple of Engaku-ji.

But, when Bungo-bashi (aka Kangetsu-bashi, "Moon-Viewing Bridge") was completed, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is said to have admired the view of the bridge and the moon from this temple (in its Fushimi location), thus giving it the name Gekkyô-in ("Moon Bridge Temple"). Zen priest Kishû Sôkaku resided there for a time in the 1590s, and in 1599 the temple was changed from Shingon to Sôtô Zen.

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References

"Shiryôhen kaidai shiryô honkoku: Edo dachi ni tsuki oose watashi dome" 「史料編解題・史料翻刻「江戸立二付仰渡留」」, in Kamiya Nobuyuki 紙屋敦之 (ed.), Kinsei Nihon ni okeru gaikoku shisetsu to shakai hen'yô 3: taikun gaikô kaitai wo ou 『近世日本における外国使節と社会変容（３）－大君外交解体を追う－』, Tokyo: Waseda University (2009), p45-46n45.