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山形県
Toku
Churen-ji
Churen-ji
山形県
A Yudono head temple enshrining the sokushinbutsu of Tetsumonkai after 3,000 days of austerity, also the setting of the Akutagawa Prize novel Gassan.
Founded
833
Type
Temple
Visited
Want to go
Access
About 30 min by car from JR Tsuruoka Station; about 20 min walk from Oami bus stop
92-1 Oami Nakadai, Tsuruoka, Yamagata
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Info
Temple
Founded 833
1193 years
Buddhist Sect
Shingon Chisan school
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Overview
Churen-ji is a temple of the Shingon-shu Chisan-ha sect that served as the front-gate administrator of pilgrimages to Mount Yudono and one of the four head temples of the Yudono confederation. It is home to the mummified body (sokushinbutsu) of the ascetic Tetsumonkai Shonin. Tradition holds that the temple was founded in 833 CE by the Shingon master Kukai when he opened Mount Yudono as a sacred s…
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Origins
According to temple tradition, Churen-ji was founded in 833 CE by the Shingon master Kukai when he opened Mount Yudono as a sacred site. Standing on the front-gate approach to Yudono, it formed one of the so-called Four Temples of Yudono together with Dainichibou, Hondo-ji, and Dainichi-ji, and flou…
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Yamagata Sokushinbutsu Pilgrimage
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記
Related Articles
— 1

記
Sokushinbutsu: The Self-Mummified Monks of Japan and Their Five Sacred Temples
Japan has approximately 16 self-mummified monks (sokushinbutsu) still venerated in temples today. Through the grueling "wood-eating" (mokuji-gyo) austerity and voluntary entombment, these monks transformed their living bodies into Buddhas. This guide covers the unique Yudonosan mountain faith, the Meiji-era prohibition, and a pilgrimage to the five temples of Yamagata Prefecture.
era
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人
Related Figures
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Kūkai
Founder of Shingon Buddhism / Kobo Daishi
Age 59 at founding
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According to temple tradition, when Kukai opened Mount Yudono as a sacred site in 833, he founded Churen-ji at the front-gate approach to the mountain. Sharing the same Kukai foundation tradition as Dainichibou, the two temples stood as the twin pillars of Yudono Shingon Buddhism and jointly administered the front-gate pilgrimage route until the early modern period.
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