Higashi Hongan-ji

The temple closest to Kyoto Station exists thanks to a shogun’s paranoia. By the 17th century, the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism had grown powerful enough to worry Shogun Ieyasu Toku-gawa. When it became embroiled in a succession dispute, he drove the wedge in by offering land for a breakaway faction to build a temple on. Higashi Hongan-ji opened in 1602, a few hundred metres away from rival Nishi Hongan-ji, and the sect has been divided ever since. Fire razed the newer Hongan-ji four times, the current structures date from only 1895. Among the temple’s exhibits are tools used in the most recent reconstruction, including a wooden sledge for transporting timber and a 375kg rope made from the hair of temple followers - regular ropes of the era were too weak to hoist such heavy timber. After a major renovation, the Main Hall is set to reopen in October 2009.