Shinnyo-ji Temple (Kita Ward, Kyoto City) (真如寺 (京都市北区))
Shinnyo-ji Temple, located in Tojiin Kitamachi, Kita Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture is a temple of the Shokoku-ji Temple school of the Rinzai sect. Its sango (literally, "mountain name," the title prefixed to the name of a Buddhist temple) is Mannen-zan. Shinnyo-ji Temple is one of the three sub-temples outside the Shokoku-ji Temple site, along with the Rokuon-ji and Jisho-ji temples. It was once ranked eighth in the Jissetsu (ten important temples of Rinzai sect, second in significance to the Kyoto Gozan, or the Five Great Zen Temples of Kyoto), but later it became third in the Kyoto Jissetsu (ten great temples of Kyoto). It was founded by Sogen MUGAKU.
After the death of Sogen MUGAKU in 1286, Nyotaini (who was considered Yasumori ADACHI's daughter and Akitoki KANAZAWA's wife; her real name was Chiyono), who adored Mugaku, built a hermitage called 'Shomyaku-an' as his graveyard, and this was probably the beginning of Shinnyo-ji Temple. In 1340, KO no Moronao moved the hermitage to the east side and refurbished it as a temple, which was then called Shinnyo-ji Temple. In October 12 of the following year, it was included in the Jissetsu, deriving considerable support from the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). However, after a devastating fire in 1461, the temple virtually closed amid the confusion in the wake of the Onin War. In 1656, during the Edo period, the temple was restored by Gomizuoin; since then it has belonged to Shokoku-ji Temple.