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Byakugō-ji 白毫寺
Temple road (sandō)
Religion
Affiliation	Shingon Risshū
Deity	Amida Nyorai (Amitābha)
Location
Location	392 Byakugōji-chō, Nara, Nara Prefecture
Country	Japan
Geographic coordinates	34°40′15.65″N 135°51′4.35″E / 34.6710139°N 135.8512083°E / 34.6710139; 135.8512083
Architecture
Founder	Gonsō Gonzō (acc. legend)
Completed	715 (acc. legend)

Byakugō-ji (白毫寺) is a Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan. A number of wooden statues of the Heian and Kamakura periods have been designated Important Cultural Properties and the temple's five-coloured camellias are a Prefectural Natural Monument.

Name

The byakugō or urna is the curl of white hair between the eyebrows that is one of the thirty-two physical characteristics of the Buddha.

Buildings

The five by five bay Hondō, with tiled hipped roof, dates from the early Edo period (first half of the seventeenth century) and has been designated a Municipal Cultural Property. A tahōtō was still standing in the Meiji period.

Treasures

Byakugō-ji's seven Important Cultural Properties of Japan are, from the Heian period, an Amida Nyorai, and a bodhisattva traditionally identified as Monju Bosatsu and once enshrined in the temple's tahōtō, and from the Kamakura period, Enma-ō, attendants Shiroku (司録) and Shimyō (司命), Taizan-ō (太山王), Jizō Bosatsu, and Kōshō Bosatsu (興正菩薩) (Eison (叡尊). The Taizan-ō was carved by Kōen (康円) in 1259 and has an inscription documenting repairs in 1498.

References

1. ^ 国指定文化財一覧 [List of National Cultural Properties] (in Japanese). Nara Prefecture. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
2. "奈良県指定文化財一覧" [List of Prefectural Cultural Properties of Nara Prefecture] (PDF) (in Japanese). Nara Prefecture. 1 April 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
3. Seckel, Dietrich (1985). "Buddhist Temple Names in Japan". Monumenta Nipponica. 40 (4). Sophia University: 378. JSTOR 2384822.
4. "byakugou". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
5. 白毫寺本堂 [Byakugōji Hondō] (in Japanese). Nara City. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
6. 白毫寺多宝塔 [Byakugōji Tahōtō] (in Japanese). Tokyo National Museum. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
7. 木造太山王坐像〈康円作／〉 [Seated Wooden Statue of Taizan-ō (by Kōen)] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
8. 太山王坐像（百毫寺） [Seated Statue of Taizan-ō (Byakugōji)] (in Japanese). Tobunken. Retrieved 29 November 2015.

• Buddhist temples in Nara, Nara
• Shingon Ritsu temples