Basic Information
Description
Founded by Ryochin, a disciple of the monk Honen. It fell into ruin during the medieval period but was revived in the Meiji era as a site connected to The Tale of the Heike. It is now a Shingon-sect nunnery under the Daikaku-ji school.
The shirabyoshi dancer Gio lost the affections of Taira no Kiyomori and withdrew to this hermitage in the depths of Sagano with her sister and mother — as the tale goes, "In a grass hut deep in Sagano, she devoted herself to chanting the nembutsu."
The grounds are covered in a carpet of moss, enclosed by maples and bamboo, creating an atmosphere of extraordinary beauty and stillness.
From The Tale of the Heike:
"No matter how the Lord Chancellor insisted she could not stay, the time came for her to sweep and tidy and prepare to leave. Three years she had lived in that place, and now the parting was bitter and sorrowful, the tears flowing without end. But there was nothing to be done. As Gio was about to leave for good, she turned back and wrote a poem on the sliding door, weeping as she brushed the words:
'Whether sprouting green or withering brown — all grasses of the same field. Can any escape the autumn?'"