View source for Ninna-ji

[[File:Ninnaji-kannondo-pagoda.jpg|right|thumb|500px|The temple's pagoda, as seen from the [[Kannon]]-dô (both [[Important Cultural Properties]] dating to the 1640s)]]
*''Established: [[888]], [[Emperor Uda]]''
*''Japanese'': 仁和寺 ''(Ninna-ji)''

Ninna-ji, located in northwestern central [[Kyoto]], is the head temple of the Omoro sect of [[Shingon]] Buddhism in Japan. It is considered a part of the UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]] "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities)," along with sixteen other temples, [[Shinto shrines]], and other sites.

The temple was built in the 9th century, being finally formally established and named "Ninna-ji" by [[Emperor Uda]] in [[888]]. Emperor Uda then went on to reside on the temple grounds for roughly thirty years following his [[Insei system|retirement]].

Many of the buildings extant today at Ninna-ji date to the time of the third [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa shogun]], [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]] (r. [[1623]]-[[1651]]). The temple's ''kondô'' (main hall, lit. "golden hall"), today designated a [[National Treasure]], was formerly a part of the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace]] compound; the bell tower, Mie-dô, [[Kannon]]-dô, sutra hall, five-story pagoda, and [[Nio|Niô]]-mon (gate) all date to the time of Tokugawa Iemitsu, and are all considered [[Important Cultural Properties]].

==Compound==
*The main Niô-mon temple gate was constructed c. [[1637]]-[[1644]], in emulation of the "Japanese" (''wayô'') style of the [[Heian period]].<ref>The term ''wayô'' (lit. "Japanese style") was coined in the [[Kamakura period]] to refer to the architectural styles introduced from China in the [[Nara period]] and which had now become rather traditional and nativized, in contrast to the more newly introduced, and thus more foreign-seeming Chinese styles of architecture (''karayô'') introduced alongside [[Zen]]. See: "[http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/w/wayou.htm Wayou]," JAANUS.</ref>
*The temple's Shiro Shoin ("white study") was built in [[1890]] to serve as a temporary ''shinden'' ("palace") following the destruction of the ''goten'' ("palace") in a fire in [[1887]]. A new ''shinden'' was built afterwards, and this structure was then renamed the Shiro Shoin. A series of ''[[fusuma]]'' (sliding screen) paintings decorating the walls of the ''[[shoin]]'' depicting pine trees are by ''[[Nihonga]]'' painter Fukunaga Seihan, and date to 1937.

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==References==
*Plaques on-site.
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[[Category:Temples]]
[[Category:Heian Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]