Honchido

This modern building is tucked behind the larger Zaodo, Kinpusenji Temple’s main hall. It was built in 2000 to celebrate the 1,300-year anniversary of the death of En no Gyoja (634–701), the founder of the Shugendo religion. Among the Buddhist figures enshrined in the hall is a Buddha triad: a Shaka Nyorai and two bodhisattvas, the Thousand-Armed Kannon and the Miroku (Maitreya), Buddha of the Future. These are the three deities who appeared to En no Gyoja in the form of Zao Gongen, whose images are enshrined within the Zaodo. There is also a statue of En no Gyoja, accompanied by Zenki and Goki, two demons he tamed while training in the Ikoma mountains.