Kasuga Myojin Shrine

Finding a Shinto shrine inside a Buddhist temple grounds might seem surprising, but at Kosanji Temple it reflects the beliefs of the founder, monk Myoe (1173-1232). The Kasuga Myojin Shrine is dedicated to the four deities of Nara's Kasuga Taisha, which Myoe loved deeply and visited often. His reverence for the shrine was so strong, legend says, that when he had long planned a pilgrimage to India, the deity advised him not to go and he complied. Until the Meiji Restoration separated Shinto and Buddhism in law, syncretic practices like this were common across Japan. The shrine is a quiet corner within a landscape shaped by that layered history.