Negoro-ji

History

In the latter half of the Heian period, from 1131, the priest Kakuban became head of the Shingon sect on Mount Kōya and attempted to reform the sect by reuniting the Ōno (小野) and Hirosawa (広沢) branches. He also attempted to assert the authority of Mount Kōya over the temple's metropolitan headquarters at Tō-ji in Kyoto. More controversially, he also attempted to introduce elements from Pure Land Buddhism into Shingon orthodoxy, including a new ritual called the himitsu nembutsu (秘密念仏, esoteric nembutsu). These reforms led to animosity form various reactionary political factions within the Shingon hierarchy, and facing calls for his expulsion, he resigned his posts in 1135 and retired to the chapel of Mitsugon-in (密厳院). However, the animosity against him continued, and after armed followers of the other factions burned down his residence in 1140, he fled further south into the mountains of Kii Province to an estate which he had received in 1132 from ex-Emperor Toba called Ichijō-zan Daidenpon Negoro-ji. He died at this location in 1143 and one of his disciples, Raiyū (頼瑜, 1226–1304) moved the Daidenbō-in and the Mitsugon-in chapels from Mount Kōya to Negoro-ji in 1288 and established the independence of a new school called Shingi Shingon (新義真言宗, New Shingon).

During the height of its influence in the late Muromachi period, the temple grew to become a huge religious city, with some 450 temples or chapels (2700 by some accounts) on the mountainside, controlling estates with a kokudaka of 720,000 koku and with some 10,000 Negoro-shū soldiers. Many of these soldiers were armed with matchlock rifles, which had recently been introduced to Japan. The temple was thus equivalent to a major Sengoku daimyō in terms of economic and military might. The temple enjoyed a good relationship with Oda Nobunaga, having assisted him during the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War from 1570 to 1580 and with Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute in 1584; however, it earned the enmity of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who launched an invasion of Kii Province in 1585. During the Siege of Negoro-ji most of the temple was burned down. Since the temple surrendered without resistance, its burning has been subject to some controversy. It is not clear if the temple was burned on Hideyoshi's orders, by its defenders, or as an act of arson by the attackers. The main surviving structure, the "Daidenhōdō" was dismantled and taken away for use as the Main Hall of Tenshō-ji, which Hideyoshi planned as Nobunaga's mausoleum in Funaokayama, Kyoto. However, Tenshō-ji was never built.

Following the Siege of Osaka in 1615 and the destruction of the Toyotomi clan, Tokugawa Ieyasu donated the buildings of Shoun-ji, a temple which had been built by Hideyoshi to mourn his infant son Tsurumatsu, to Negoro-ji, which had begun to rebuild. During the Edo period, the temple was patronized by the Kishū Tokugawa clan and continued to rebuild.

Archaeological excavations have been conducted on the temple grounds from 1976, and excavation also unearthed numerous relics such as pottery, lacquerware, Buddhist implements, and weapons. These relics are stored and exhibited at the "Iwade Civic Museum" built on the premises. However, the grounds of the temple are increasing threatened by urban encroachment.