Mount Hiei: The Sacred Mountain of Japanese Buddhism, near Kyoto (English Edition) (Sacred Japan Book 1)

This book covers everything about Mount Hiei, the sacred mountain in Japan. It covers the history, architecture, Buddha statues, Buddhist philosophy, Buddhists' cuisine, Gosyuin: Vermilion seal, and the travel guide. 140 pieces of full color photographs are placed in this book with a detailed sentence. There are so-called "three biggest sacred mountains" in Japan: Mount Hiei, Mount Koya, and Mount Osore. In those, Mount Hiei is located near by Kyoto, and it is the most important mountain culturally and historically.　
People all over the world know about Mount Fuji, but Mount Hiei of Japan is less famous. Although Mount Fuji is the highest altitude mountain in Japan, or Mount Hiei is less than one-fourth of the altitude of Mount Fuji, Mount Hiei is one of the most important mountain culturally in Japan. Many people have asked me why Mount Hiei is so important. Because, Mount Hiei had been kind of a university of the ancient Japan. Many famous scholars studied there and graduated from Mount Hiei.
Buddhism entered Japan in the 6th century (525) CE. In the Nara Period, the time of the capital city of Nara in Japan, Buddhism in Nara looked too pedantic. However, in the 8th century (794) CE, the capital city changed from Nara to Kyoto. Afterwards, the Heian Period started and the new and powerful Esoteric Buddhism began. Emperor Kanmu sponsored the new Buddhism, which was spread by the priest Saicho (also known as Dengyo Daishi), who established Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei (Hiei-zan) near Kyoto. Saicho was the founder of the Tendai-shu School. Later, Hiei-zan had been called the “mother mountain” of Japanese Buddhism because so many founders of the famous Schools of Japanese Buddhism graduated from Hiei-zan. That is why some people said Hiei-zan was the very old university, or the highest educational institution in ancient Japan.



CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Todo area

2 Saito area

3 Yokawa area

4 Mudoji-dani area

5 Shojin-ryori: Buddhists’ cuisine

6 Goshuin: Vermilion seal

7 Access to Mount Hiei

Maps

Chronological Table

References

About the Author

***
About the Author
Masakazu Ishikawa is a journalist. He was a television reporter and video-journalist at the Japan Broadcasting Corporation and covered the war in Afghanistan, the civil war in Kashmir, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, and the Gulf War. He also lived in Kyoto for five years as a journalist, covering culture, history, festivals, the Kimono industry, the temples, and the shrines of Kyoto. Ishikawa holds an MBA from Waseda University. He was placed on the dean’s list and he later left the doctoral program at Waseda University.