Basic Information
Description
Formally known as Jingo Kokuso Shingon-ji. Mountain name: Takao-san. A special head temple of the Koyasan Shingon school. The principal image is Yakushi Nyorai.
Its origin traces to Jingwan-ji, built in Kawachi by Wake no Kiyomaro during the Enryaku era (782-806). The current Jingo-ji was formerly called Takao-ji, but in 824, Kiyomaro's son Matsuna replaced Jingwan-ji with Takao-ji as a state-sponsored temple, renaming it Jingo Kokuso Shingon-ji. Kukai entered the temple in 810 and used it as his base until moving to To-ji in 814.
After the Heian period, the temple had declined so badly that by the time of the Hogen Rebellion there wasn't even a resident monk. It was Mongaku who restored it with the support of Minamoto no Yoritomo and Emperor Go-Shirakawa.