Higashi Honganji

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Higashi Honganji (or, 'The Eastern Temple of the Original Vow') is one of two dominant sub-sects of Shin Buddhism in Japan and abroad, the other being Nishi Honganji (or, 'The Western Temple of the Original Vow'). The Higashi Honganji (also Shinshu Otaniha) sect has approximately 5.5 million members, according to statistics.[1]

Higashi Honganji was established in 1602 by the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu when he split the Shin sect in two (Nishi Honganji being the other) in order to diminish it's power.[1]

Higashi Honganji is also the name of the head temple in Kyoto, a collection of buildings built in 1895 after a fire burned down the previous temple.[1]

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ a b c Popular Buddhism In Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture by Esben Andreasen, pp. 11, 38-39, 101 / University of Hawaii Press 1998, ISBN 0-8248-2028-2
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