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Byōdō-in is a Buddhist temple in the city of Uji in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is jointly a temple of the Jōdo-shū (Pure Land) and Tendai-shū sects. This temple was originally built in 998 in the Heian period as a rural villa of high ranking courtier Minamoto no Shigenobu, Minister of the Left. The property was purchased from Minamoto no Shigenobu’s wife after he passed away by Fujiwara no Michinaga, one of the most powerful members of the Fujiwara clan. The villa was made into a Buddhist temple by Fujiwara no Yorimichi in 1052. The most famous building in the temple is the Phoenix Hall or the Amida Hall, constructed in 1053. It is the only remaining original building, surrounded by a scenic pond; additional buildings making up the compound were burnt down during a civil war in 1336.
The main building in Byōdō-in, the Phoenix Hall consists of a central hall, flanked by twin wing corridors on both sides of the central hall, and a tail corridor. The central hall houses an image of Amida Buddha. The roof of the hall displays statues of the Chinese phoenix, called hōō in Japanese. The Phoenix Hall, completed in 1053, is the exemplar of Fujiwara Amida halls. It consists of a main rectangular structure flanked by two L-shaped wing corridors and a tail corridor, set at the edge of a large artificial pond. Though its official name is Amida-dō, it began to be called Hōō-dō, or Phoenix Hall, in the beginning of the Edo period. This name is considered to derive both from the building’s likeness to a phoenix with outstretched wings and a tail, and the pair of phoenixes adorning the roof.
There is a Jōdo-shiki garden with a pond in front of the building, which in 1997 was dredged as part of an archeological dig. The gardens are a nationally-designated Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty. The Byōdō-in museum stores and displays most of Byōdō-in’s national treasures, including 52 wooden Bodhisattvas, the temple bell, the south end Phoenix, and other historically noteworthy items. Japan commemorates its longevity and cultural significance by displaying its image on the 10 yen coin, and the 10,000 yen note features the phoenix image. In December 1994, UNESCO listed the building as a World Heritage Site as part of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto”. The Phoenix Hall, the great statue of Amida inside it, and several other items at Byōdō-in are national treasures.
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