We got up real early like 5:00AM to go for a walk to Chionin Temple before our breakfast. Chion'in Temple (知恩院) is the headquarters of the Jodo Shu (Pure Land Sect) founded by Honen(1133-1212), who proclaimed that sentient beings are reborn in Amida Buddha's Western Paradise (Pure Land) by reciting the nembutsu Amida Buddha's name. The vast compounds of Chion-in include the site where Hōnen settled to disseminate his teachings and the site where he died. It was little tough for my hubby to crimb all those stairs with Ami in sling. The original temple was built in 1234 by Hōnen's disciple, Genchi (1183-1238) in memory of his master and was named Chion-in. Numerous buildings in the complex were burnt down in 1633, but were entirely rebuilt by the third Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu (1604-51) with the palatial structures that stand today.
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