◆Enigmatic Origin◆

  It has been told that the place the cows lying was a mountain behind the precincts of the temple. There was the original precincts. Thereafter the temple had been moved a fw times. It was moved here from the place called Dodaira 1534 in the war age, they say.
  Since 1214 when it had been moved to Dodaira, its tower, halls and cathedral were beeing kept for 320 years.
  However another story tells us that the templ's halls had been kept on the place called Ymogidaira 200years before that.
  Some historians suppose that in the age when the Buddhist scriptures came from China, there ware a Buddhist temple, keeping some halls, deifying Zao-Gongen on the top of Hachibuseyama mountain and no a few halls were standing on the mountain-side.

◆Was Origine Esotericism ?◆

  Then I suppose that in Nara period when Buddhism was spreading into the powerful clans, they founded some temple halls thereabout as the bases for esotric training. Some became the temples of Shingon esoteric Buddhism school where many elite pupils got together to study.
  Beside the story about Chinese emperor, student monks of delegacy group to Tang brought a great deal of Buddhist scriptures to Japan. Many script-books was reserved at the temple and studeied to copy.
  A lot of Buddist statures and the old documents has been kept at Gokokuji, because it was in the deep mountain and thus they avoided the distruction movement against Buddhism in Meiji revolution.

◆From Approaching Way◆

▲Six stone statuues of Jizo Buddhas

  The approaching way to the temple branched off from the road on the side of damlake, which lead to the French style Stair-Stream.
  Passing by the wooden Kabuki gate we would walk up the stairway under Sugi-cedar and Hinoki trees. Through them we would look down the lake.
  On the top of the stairway we would find a heavy Yakuimon gate with two earthware fish on its roof-top. It is Sanmon gate standing infront of the main hall.

▲Japanese garden in front of main hall