Zenporitsuji Temple

Zenporitsuji is a Ritsu school Buddhist temple at the foot of Mt. Otokoyama, known locally as Momijidera, the maple temple, for the roughly one hundred maples coloring its grounds in autumn. The temple was founded in the mid-thirteenth century as a family memorial by the top administrative official of Iwashimizu Hachimangu. The mother of third Ashikaga shogun Yoshimitsu came from the founding family and was a generous patron, with local tradition crediting her donations for the famous maples. When the Meiji government separated Shinto and Buddhist practice in 1868, the temple's main deity, a statue originally carved as Jizo but venerated as Hachiman, was relocated here from Iwashimizu Hachimangu. The main hall and gate are Cultural Properties of Kyoto Prefecture.