Shorin-in Joya no Kane 2026

Before you go

Shorin-in in Ohara is a home of Tendai shōmyō chanting, and it was here that the Ōhara Debate took place.

Jakugen founded the temple in 1013 as a nembutsu training hall where practice was carried by shōmyō, the ritual chanting that sets sutra texts to melody and reached Japan from India by way of China. About ninety years later Ryōnin brought the Ōhara school of Tendai shōmyō to completion, and monks gathered in Ōhara to study the chant, making the district its centre.

In the Bunji era the abbot Kenshin invited Hōnen to debate the nembutsu teaching with senior monks from Enryakuji, Kongōbuji and Tōdaiji. During the debate the temple's principal image, a seated Amida, showed a miraculous sign that confirmed Hōnen's position, and the statue has been known since as the Amida of Proof. The present main hall was rebuilt in 1778, built entirely of zelkova wood under a roof of layered wooden shingles.

On the last night of the year there is no limit on numbers and no numbered tickets at Shorin-in; those who come may ring. The temple's own site does not describe the bell itself or the night's arrangements, and the city's official listing is the source for the arrangement recorded here.