Saishoin Temple and Fudodo Hall

Saishoin has been a sub-temple of Byodoin since 1654, when a Tendai priest established it here and began the cooperative arrangement with the neighboring Jodo school temple to jointly maintain this rare piece of Heian-period architecture. Fudodo Hall, the main building, enshrines Fudo Myo-o, a fierce-looking Buddhist Luminous King surrounded by flames, the late Heian-period statue flanked by two 17th-century figures. The hall also holds a statue of En no Ozunu, the 8th-century ascetic who founded Shugendo. Beside it, a smaller Jizodo Hall enshrines a Jizo bodhisattva, the protector of children and travelers whose statues appear throughout Japan.