The Iiyama Temple is a small yet somewhat fabled temple on the outskirts of the downtown area of Takayama. It's now all that remains of the Iiyama family and castle, which was said to be a psuedonymn of Asahina Saburou 朝比奈三郎.
I went to the area because I was looking around at locations of castle ruins in Takayama. I had never noticed this before, nor really knew anything about it. Also, Google Maps didn't even have a road going to it, so it seems like an interesting place to investigate.
To reach the temple, there's an unremarkable unpaved side road that goes up a hill through some farms. The farmland is still being used, so some rice planting equipment was on the side of the road. The narrow roads winds up the hill as most side roads do, and the forest opens up to reveal the temple and a rather large garden with some old folks doing their various gardening.
Being the height of June, all the plants and grass have grown to take over much of the area. There were several historical plaques posted near the temple with each more recent plaque having more detailed information of the history and significance of the temple. I made a separate post with full transcriptions and translations of those plaques.
The legend of the temple begins with Asahina Saburou, a legend of Japanese folklore. After his defeat in the Heiji Rebellion, he apparently fled to Hida and lived in hiding by changing his name to Iiyama. At this location, at the foot of the mountain, he built his castle and estate. Although, the plaque says that the rebellion was in 1159, but Wikipedia says Asahina was born in 1176, so who knows.
After building his estate, he ultimately came into possession of a statue of the eleven-headed Kannon. He built a hall within his estate to house and display the statue. This hall was named Reishoin 霊松院. The hall was later refashioned into a temple in 1339 for the statue.
Later, Miki Yoritsuna (1540-1587) invaded Hida and burned down Iiyama's castle and estate, along with the temple. Miki built Matsukura Castle on the top of that mountain to defend the region.
After the Kanamori Clan swept through Hida and conquered it, Kanamori 金森長近 ordered a Shingon monk to rebuild the temple at its current location, which was said to be where Iiyama Castle and estate once stood. The temple was renamed Toukouzan Iiyama Temple 東向山飯山寺. This was in 1604.
In the Edo Period, with Tokugawa Shogunate in full control of Japan, a priest named Genkai 玄海 began the revival of state sanctioned Buddhism. He moved to Takayama and lived in Iiyama Temple as he helped rebuild and shape Kokubunji Temple downtown. He also rebuilt Ichinomiya Shrine to the south. The Buddhism revival attracted many lords and people, so the temple flourished again. The current worship hall at Iiyama Temple was part of Ichinomiya Temple reconstruction, and later moved here.
Inside the temple, the wooden statue of the eleven-headed Kannon is still there, according to the plaque. All of the doors were closed, and the entrances were covered in screens for protection against animals. For a time, the temple was home to two works by the Japanese Monk, Enku 円空, both of which are designated as cultural properties of Gifu prefecture. Those works are now on display in the Takayama City Museum.
Despite the Temple having been largely abandoned, every seven years the temple opens again for the public to view the priceless statues inside. Although, apparently, this practice may have stopped in 2021.
Near the exit to the forest was a small collection of Ojizosama. It seemed like it had been several years since they've been tended to. One of the Jizos didn't even have a face anymore.
The Ojizosama statues offer two kinds of protection. One of these protections are for children who have died too early in life. As a child's soul passes into the afterlife, it doesn't have its parents to guide them. So, the Jizo-sama protect them like a parent.
These days, I think the more common protection of these statues is for travelers, which is why you see these statues everywhere when driving around in the mountains. The Jizo-sama protect people traveling long distances and help them reach their destination.
On the hill, there are a few more statues and monuments, but many of them had been knocked over by snow melt. Now, they've become buried again from the high grass. Up on the hill behind the temple and behind the monuments was a cellphone tower. The cellphone tower seems like it gets more attention these days than the temple.
Upon entering and leaving the area, you pass by a small shrine on the side of the road.
The stone sign next to it says it's the Iiyama Temple Children's Area 飯山寺子供地域. Back in the day, this might make sense as an area for the Temple's children to use while the adults perform the festival at the main temple. Nowadays, the road to the temple goes directly passed it, so it's only still here for preservation.
Again, the road leading to the temple is a fairly unremarkable side road off of Route 41. The side road used to be masked by a construction company and their large building, but I feel like they had been slowly going out of business over the last several years. Now, this main building has been completely demolished. Looking through Google, it must've happen in the last 6 months, which is really recent.
It's remarkable to go around Japan and find pockets of rich history. But, it's also almost just as remarkable how fast they can tear down their modern buildings when their business moves or changes. Living in Takayama for over 12 years, there have been so many changes.
