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Jūhachi myōjinsha (十八明神社, Shrine of the Eighteen Guardian Deities) Keller, Matthew P.

Description

This small shrine is for the kami which are said to protect the mountain's grounds and the temples therein. The alternate name for this shrine - The Palace of Rats - comes from a story of the Taiheiki 太平記. According to that work, when Miidera was granted royal permission to build a precepts platform, Enryakuji at Hieizan strongly objected and the permission was withdrawn. The monk Raigō in wrath closeted himself for twenty-one days and performed a homa ritual. When the fire from his ritual extinguished, his fierce will was turned into a multitude of rats which attacked Enryakuji's grounds and devoured its sacred scriptures. The present building was rebuilt in 1836 (Tenpō 7, 天保七年), and is built so that it faces towards Enryakuji.

Item Metadata

Title
Jūhachi myōjinsha (十八明神社, Shrine of the Eighteen Guardian Deities)
Alternate Title
Nezumi no Miya (ねずみの宮, Palace of Rats)
Creator
Keller, Matthew P.
Contributor
From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)
Date Issued
2017-06-02
Description
This small shrine is for the kami which are said to protect the mountain's grounds and the temples therein. The alternate name for this shrine - The Palace of Rats - comes from a story of the Taiheiki 太平記. According to that work, when Miidera was granted royal permission to build a precepts platform, Enryakuji at Hieizan strongly objected and the permission was withdrawn. The monk Raigō in wrath closeted himself for twenty-one days and performed a homa ritual. When the fire from his ritual extinguished, his fierce will was turned into a multitude of rats which attacked Enryakuji's grounds and devoured its sacred scriptures. The present building was rebuilt in 1836 (Tenpō 7, 天保七年), and is built so that it faces towards Enryakuji.
Subject
Miidera; Kami; Taiheiki
Geographic Location
Ōtsu-shi (Japan); 35.011; 135.855
Type
Still Image
Language
jpn
Notes
Author Affiliation: University of Southern California
Series
Cluster 2.2: "Secondary" Producers, "Primary" Roles
Date Available
2018-01-22
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0363122
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/64444
Affiliation
Non UBC
Peer Review Status
Unreviewed
Scholarly Level
Graduate
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Attribution 4.0 International