Ganjōju-in Temple

is a Buddhist temple of the Kōyasan Shingon-shū sect in the Hike neighborhood of the city of Izunokuni, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Its main image is a statue of Amida Nyōrai. The temple grounds were designated a National Historic Site on February 14, 1973. The temple is noted for a set of statues by the famed Kamakura period sculptor Unkei which are collectively designated a National Treasure of Japan.

==History== Ganjōju-in is located at the eastern foot of Mount Moriyama at an elevation of 100 meters along the Kano River in the Izu Peninsula. Per the Azuma Kagami, Ganjōju-in was founded in 1189 by Hōjō Tokimasa to pray for the victory of the Minamoto forces in their campaign against the Northern Fujiwara at Hiraizumi. However, the temple's famed statues by Unkei are all dated 1186, or three years before the campaign, indicating that the temple was actually intended as a bodaiji for the Hōjō clan. The temple continued to expand during the tenures of Hōjō Yoshitoki and Hōjō Yasutoki, becoming the largest and most important temple in Izu Province during the Kamakura period. However, the temple's prosperity was short-lived. During the wars of Hōjō Soun in the late Muromachi period, the temple was burned down in 1491 and although reconstructed, was burned down again by the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the 1590 Siege of Odawara. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the temple was rebuilt in by Hōjō Ujisada (1703-1758) daimyō of Sayama Domain and the present Hondō dates from 1789, although all buildings of the temple were extensively rebuilt in 1967.