Honganji Temple, A Long-influential Spiritual Center in Kyoto

Honganji Temple in Kyoto is the head temple of the Jodo-Shin Sect, one of Japan’s largest Buddhist sects. A Part of it is designated as a World Cultural Heritage site, boasts several surviving masterpieces of architecture from the Azuchi-Momoyama (1573-1603) and early Edo periods (1603-1868), including the Karamon (National Treasure of Japan), a four-legged gate with karahafu gables of undulating curves on the front and back. It also boasts the Goeido, Kyoto’s largest wooden building dedicated to the sect’s founder Shinran (1173-1263),Shoseien, a small beautiful Japanese strolling-style garden with a pond.