Manganji Temple

• History of Manganji Temple
• Manganji Temple Access
• Japan Temples & Shrines

Manganji Temple 満願寺

Manganji Temple in the Okazaki museum district of Kyoto, just north of Kyoto Zoo, is a small Nichiren sect temple of Japanese Buddhism.

Manganji Temple in February snow, Okazaki, Kyoto

Manganji Temple, Kyoto

History of Manganji Temple

The date of Manganji's founding is unclear, though it may have its antecedents in the Heian Period, when it was originally a Shingon sect temple.

During the Edo Period in 1697, Manganji became a Nichiren temple and many of the present buildings date from that time, including the Main Hall constructed between 1702-1704 and the Bell Tower in 1703. It is thought that Nichiren (1222-1282) himself once stayed at the temple in its earlier incarnation.

Manganji Temple, Kyoto

The gravestone of Kenji Mizoguchi (left) and a monument to Osaka Story (right), the movie Mizoguchi was working on when he died, Manganji Temple, Okazaki, Kyoto

The spacious grounds of Manganji Temple contain a memorial to the film director and scriptwriter Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956), who directed such classics of his time as Ugetsu (1953) which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Mizoguchi worked in Kyoto's Nikkatsu's studios for a period directing such movies as Osaka Elegy and Sisters of the Gion.

After the war, Mizoguchi along with fellow director Yasujiro Ozu, of Tokyo Story fame, were "rediscovered" and acclaimed in the West. At the time of his death in Kyoto of leukemia, aged only 58, Mizoguchi ranked as one of the three great masters of Japanese cinema alongside Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.

Manganji Temple Access

Manganji Temple

Okazakihoshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku

Kyoto 606-8333

Tel: 075 771 4874

Hours: 9 am-4.30 pm

Admission: Free admission to the temple grounds.

Manganji Temple is about 15 minutes walk from Higashiyama Station on the Tozai Line of the Kyoto subway.

Manganji Temple is close to Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, the Hosomi Museum, Heian Shrine, the Kampo Museum, the Kanze Kaikan Noh Theater, the Namikawa Cloisonné Museum of Kyoto, Rohm Theater and the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts in the basement of the Miyako Messe.

Kongoji Temple is a Jodo-shu sect temple close by in Okazaki.

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