Ninna-ji Temple

The head temple of the Shingon Omuro School, it was registered as a World Cultural Heritage site in 1994.
After initial construction by Emperor Koko in the early Heian period, it was completed by Emperor Uda in 888, and named Ninna-ji after the reign period. After Emperor Uda abdicated, he joined the priesthood and became a monk at the monastery here, where he trained for over thirty years. As a result, the room (monastic cell) he lived in, known as the “omuro,” later gave its name to the area around the temple.
For the thousand years after that until the Meiji Restoration, imperial princes would pass on the light of Buddhism, residing in this temple. However, during the Onin War the entire compound burned down, and for a time a temporary palace was built on the western foothills of Narabigaoka.
The present compound was reconstructed in the early Edo period with the help of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Kondo hall (National Treasure) is the relocated main palace hall, while the Founder’s Hall, the Kannon Hall, Bell Tower, Five-Story Pagoda, Sutra Repository, and Nio Gate (all Important Cultural Properties) all date from that period. The grounds of the Ninna-ji are also a designated Historic Site, the area where the Ninna-ji Temporary Palace once stood.
From the West Gate to the base of Mt. Joju is the Omuro Pilgrimage, patterned on the famous Shikoku Pilgrimage. To the left of the Middle Gate is the famous Omuro Sakura cherry tree (Place of Scenic Beauty), famed for its late-blooming blossoms.
Kyoto City