Kōdai-ji Temple

is a Buddhist temple located in the Shimogawara neighborhood of Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan. It belongs to the Kenninji branch of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. Its sangō prefix is , and its Main image is a statue Shaka Nyorai. Its precincts were designated a National Historic Site in 1966. The gardens of Kōdai-ji were designed by Kobori Enshū and are a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty.

==History== After Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, his wife, Kita no Mandokoro, became a nun and was given the dharma name "Kōdai-in " by Emperor Go-Yōzei in 1603. She then made a vow to build a temple to commemorate Hideyoshi's soul, and Tokugawa Ieyasu supported the construction. Kōdai-ji was built on the grounds of once belonging to a temple called Unkō-ji, which had burned down during the Ōnin War. The temple was begun by relocating structures from other temples in Kyoto. The Kotoku-ji, which contained the grave of Hideyoshi's mother Ōmandokoro was located was relocated to the new site. Kōdai-in built a residence and one for her nephew Kinoshita Toshifusa to the west of Kōdai-ji, and later that same year moved her palace and its front garden from Fushimi Castle to make it her own residence. He also moved the abbot's quarters and a chashitsu from Fushimi Castle. Tokugawa Ieyasu appointed Kyoto Shoshidai Itakura Katsushige as the magistrate of construction and having his subordinate samurai work on the construction of the temple Among them Hori Naomasa was particularly significant, and a wooden statue of Naomasa is enshrined in the Kaisan-do Hall (Founder's Hall) of Kōdai-ji. The new temple was consecrated in 1606 as a Sōtō sect temple.