Gangō-ji
Gango-ji
元興寺 Gango-ji
A temple of the Flower Garland (Kegon) school in Nara, Japan. Originally located in Asuka, then the seat of the imperial court, its construction was commissioned by the court official Soga no Umako and was completed in 596. It was called Asuka-dera temple and also Hoko-ji. After the imperial court moved to Nara, the temple was moved there in 718 and renamed Gango-ji. Gango-ji prospered as a center of Buddhist learning and came to be counted among the so-called seven major temples of Nara. In the Nara period (710-794), earnest study of the doctrines of the Three Treatises (Sanron) and Dharma Characteristics (Hosso) schools was carried out at the temple. Its prosperity began to wane, however, in the middle of the Heian period (794-1185). It declined further after being damaged by fire in 1451 and was finally destroyed by fire in 1859.
