Enryaku-ji
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Enryaku-ji is a Tendai monastery located on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto. It was first founded in 788 during the early Heian period by Saichō, also known as Dengyō Daishi, who introduced the
Konpon-chūdō (根本中堂), Enryaku-ji's main hall)
Nobunaga forces setting fire to Enryaku-ji and massacring the monks in the Siege of Mount Hiei in 1571 (depiction in the Ehon taikouki)
Ruri-dō (瑠璃堂, "Lapis Lazuli Hall") is the only building that survived the siege of 1571.
Great Lecture Hall (大講堂, Daikō-dō)
Sōhei
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Sōhei were Buddhist warrior monks of both classical and feudal Japan. At certain points in history, they held considerable power, obliging the imperial and military governments to collaborate.
Enryaku-ji
…in the government. At the peak of its power, Enryaku-ji was a huge complex of as many as 3,000 sub-temples and a powerful army of warrior monks (僧兵, sōhei). In the tenth century, succession disputes broke out between Tendai monks of the line of Ennin and Enchin. These disputes resulted in opposing Tendai…
The sōhei Benkei with Minamoto no Yoshitsune
Kamakura-period statue of Thousand-armed Kannon at Sanjūsangen-dō in Kyoto, Japan.
Sōhei weapons and dress during the Kamakura period