Daisen-ji Temple, Buddhist temple in Daisen, Japan

Daisen-ji is a Tendai temple on the middle slopes of Mount Daisen, within Daisen-Oki National Park. Its main hall, rebuilt in 1951, is a 5x6-bay wooden building on a raised stone base reached by broad steps, with a dark tiled roof, red walls between pale square pillars and a carved wood band above the doorways. A second hall stands at the top of a wide stone staircase, its white plaster panels, latticed windows and blue plaque with gold characters set beneath a deep overhanging roof; a stone lantern stands to the right.

According to temple legend, the local ruler Toshikata shot a deer on the sacred slopes of Mount Daisen in 718, repented, took the name Koren Shonin and built a hut to worship Jizo Bosatsu. From the 9th century the temple came under Tendai control, its head monk dispatched from Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei. Closed in 1875 under the anti-Buddhist movement, it reopened in 1903; the Dainichi-dō burned in 1928 and was rebuilt in 1951.

The temple serves as a stop on two pilgrimage routes that bring visitors year-round: the Chugoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage and the Izumo Shinbutsu Pilgrimage. These routes give the place spiritual meaning that shapes how people experience it.

The temple stands on the slopes of Mount Daisen, reached by bus from Yonago Station (54 minutes, five round trips daily) or Daisen-guchi Station (30 minutes, four down and three up daily); the terminus is on the first floor of the Daisen National Park Center. The precincts are explored on foot along uphill paths and uneven ground, so wear sturdy shoes.

The Amida Hall, a thatched 5x5-bay wooden building, dates to 1552 and is an Important Cultural Property. Inside, an inscription on the central Amida statue records that it was made by Ryōen in 1131. The temple's illustrated history scrolls, the Daisen-ji engi emaki, burned in the 1928 fire; only copies and photographs survive.