Kōshō-ji Temple, Buddhist temple in Shimogyō-ku, Japan

Kōshō-ji is the head temple of the Shinshū Kōshō-ha school, just south of Nishi Honganji in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto. Its two main halls are the Amida Hall (1915) and the larger Goei Hall (1912), linked by a covered corridor. The Amida Hall has a broad, steeply pitched roof of dark grey tiles, dark timber framing with round pillars, and two long white vertical banners with black text hanging between the pillars.

Tradition credits the disciple Shinbutsu with founding the temple at Yamashina in 1212, but the documented origin is the monk Ryōgen, who moved a Kyoto lodging of Shinran into a temple around 1321. In 1481 the 14th head Keigō joined Rennyo's Honganji, bringing 42 branch temples with him. The temple burned with Yamashina Honganji in 1532, was rebuilt in Osaka, and moved to its present site south of Nishi Honganji in 1591.

The temple is the head temple of the Shinshu Kōshō-ha school, which became independent from the Honganji school in 1876 under the 27th abbot Honjaku (Kason Sekishin). The abbot's family, the Kason, holds the position of monshu. The temple's name comes from the imperial edict 'Kōryū Shōbō' granted by Emperor Shunde, and its mountain name is Entonzan.

Kōshō-ji stands at Horikawa-Shichijō in Shimogyō-ku, directly south of Nishi Honganji. From Kyoto Station it is about 20 minutes on foot; the Nishi Honganji-mae bus stop (Kyoto city buses 9, 28 and 75) is right by the temple. The Amida-dō gate on the south side serves as the main entrance.

The temple bell tower was rebuilt in 1774 for the 13th anniversary of Emperor Momozono's death, donated together with its bronze bell by the empress dowager Kōrei-mon'in (Ichijō Tomiko). The kyōzō storehouse, built in 1848, keeps a calligraphy plaque reading "Hōbōzō" written by the minister of the right Konoe Tadahiro and granted by Emperor Kōmei.