Enryaku-ji

Enryaku-ji overlooks Kyoto from the border of Ōmi Province. With Emperor Kanmu's backing, Saichō brought Chinese Tiantai teachings to Japan from here; in 807 he ordained a hundred disciples for twelve years of secluded study.

At its height the complex held some three thousand sub-temples. In the tenth century a succession feud split Tendai into the Mountain Order at Enryaku-ji and the Temple Order at Mii-dera, and armed monks repeatedly marched on Kyoto. The monastery trained the men who later founded the Pure Land, Shinshū, Sōtō Zen and Nichiren schools.

In 1571 Oda Nobunaga stormed Mount Hiei, burned the buildings and put the monks to the sword; only the thirteenth-century Ruri-dō survived. Reconstruction followed, and Tokugawa Iemitsu rebuilt the main hall in 1642.