Kuon-ji, Buddhist temple in Minobu, Japan.
Kuon-ji is a Buddhist temple on Mount Minobu in Japan and features a five-story pagoda along with a main hall decorated with dragon paintings. Around 287 stone steps lead from the entrance gate up to the heart of the compound.
Nichiren came to Kai province in 1274 at the invitation of Nanbu Sanenaga and set up a hermitage; in 1281 he founded the temple named Minobu-san Hokke-in Kuon-ji. After his death in 1282 his ashes were brought here as he had wished. Relocated to its present site in 1475, the compound grew to 133 chapels by 1712, but fires in 1744, 1776, 1821, 1824, 1829, 1865 and 1875 destroyed most buildings, which were rebuilt.
The name comes from a phrase in the Lotus Sutra and means eternal origins. The compound on Mount Minobu is now home to monks and visited by pilgrims who bow before Nichiren's relics.
A bus from Shinjuku in Tokyo brings visitors here in about three and a half hours, after which you can walk up the steps or take the cable car. Climbing the stairs takes around half an hour and offers stopping points along the way.
Each morning around 60 monks gather for prayer and strike the temple bell, which guests outside can observe. The museum within the temple compound holds around 5,000 items, including paintings from the Heian period and the Southern Song dynasty.
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