Shihon-ji

Shihon-ji was the uji-dera (氏寺, "family temple") of the Kakinomoto clan.^[1] It is supposedly the final resting place of the remains of the poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and so became a focal point for veneration of him once he began to be worshiped as a god of poetry.^[1] A stone tablet commemorating Hitomaro at this spot is mentioned in the Fujiwara no Kiyosuke Kashū (藤原清輔家集),^[1] which was likely compiled in the late 12th century.^[2]

In 1337 (Kenmu 4), in the early Nanboku-chō period, the army of the Northern Court took up camp in the temple grounds and did battle with the Southern Court's forces.^[1] Around the same period, the Shihon-gū Mandala (柿本宮曼荼羅 Shihon-gū Mandara) was produced here.^[1] It is now in the holdings of the Yamato Bunkakan (大和文華館) and is an Important Cultural Property.^[1]

It moved at some point, the date of which is uncertain, but it was likely established at its present location within the Muromachi period.^[1] Until the Edo period it flourished as a place of learning for Buddhist monks practicing waka composition and tea ceremony.^[1] In 1732 (Kyōhō 17), the monks of the temple and the physician Morimoto Munenori (森本宗範) erected a stone tablet (歌塚 utazuka) in the temple grounds.^[1]

It was abandoned at the beginning of the Meiji period.^[1]

34°37′13″N 135°50′03″E / 34.6202°N 135.8343°E / 34.6202; 135.8343