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Butsuryū-ji 仏隆寺
Heian-period stone chamber at Butsuryū-ji (ICP)
Religion
Affiliation	Shingon (Murō-ji branch)
Deity	Jūichimen Kannon
Location
Location	1684 Haibara Akabane, Uda, Nara Prefecture
Country	Japan
Geographic coordinates	34°30′55″N 136°0′35″E / 34.51528°N 136.00972°E / 34.51528; 136.00972
Architecture
Founder	Kenne
Completed	850

Butsuryū-ji (仏隆寺 or 佛隆寺) is a ninth-century Shingon temple in Uda, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately four kilometres southwest of Murō-ji across Mount Murō.

History

According to an official letter dated to 946, Butsuryū-ji was founded in 850 by Kenne (堅恵), disciple of Kukai, under the patronage of Okitsugu; upon Kenne's death, Shinsei and Kanshin succeeded him. An inscription on the temple bell of 863 similarly celebrates the temple's foundation by Kenne. Only a fragment of the bell now survives, preserved at the temple; the inscription is known from copies, including a fourteenth-century version now housed at Kanazawa Bunko. A Map of Mount Murō (宀一山図) in the same collection, dating to 1314, locates Kenne's grave at the temple; it is generally identified with Butsuryū-ji's unusual stone chamber with pyramidal roof. Although the present buildings are more recent, a statue of Kenne still stands beside those of Kukai and Jūichimen Kannon on the altar.

Since both Butsuryū-ji and Murō-ji could be referred to as Mount Murō, it appears that the two were sometimes confused or conflated: an early eighteenth-century encyclopaedia refers to the former as Nyonin Kōya or "Kōyasan for Women", an appellation usually reserved for the latter, referring to the ban on female visitation, relaxed in 1872. A stone marker on the road to Butsuryū-ji still proclaims "Mount Murō Nyonin Kōya".

Cultural Properties

• Stone chamber, dated to the ninth century or late Heian period (Important Cultural Property)
• Nine-hundred-year-old cherry tree (Prefectural Natural Monument)

There is also a thirteen-storey stone tō dating to 1330 and dedicated to Shũen, important figure in the early history of Murō-ji.

See also

• List of Important Cultural Properties of Japan (Heian period: structures)
• Murō-Akame-Aoyama Quasi-National Park

References

1. ^ Fowler, Sherry D. (2005). Murō-ji: Rearranging Art and History at a Japanese Buddhist Temple. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 55–59, 224–7. ISBN 0-8248-2792-9.
2. ^ Fowler, Sherry D. (2005). Murō-ji: Rearranging Art and History at a Japanese Buddhist Temple. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 66–74. ISBN 0-8248-2792-9.
3. 佛隆寺石室 [Butsuryūji Stone Chamber] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
4. 国指定文化財 [Nationally-designated Cultural Properties] (in Japanese). Uda City. Archived from the original on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
5. "Yamanobe-no-Michi, Hase and Murou Area". Nara Prefecture. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
6. 県指定文化財 [Prefecturally-designated Cultural Properties] (in Japanese). Uda City. Archived from the original on 2012-07-23. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
7. 奈良県指定文化財一覧 [List of Prefecturally designated Cultural Properties (Nara Prefecture)] (PDF) (in Japanese). Nara Prefecture. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

• Buddhist temples in Nara Prefecture
• Uda, Nara
• Shingon Buddhism
• Important Cultural Properties of Japan
• 850 establishments
• Religious buildings and structures completed in the 850s