Looking around from underneath the hexagonal diamond lantern, it's hard to tell whether I am at Nishi Honganji or Higashi Honganji

Amida Hall and a golden lantern in Nishi Hongan-ji Temple

Since Nishi Honganji Temple and Higashi Honganji TempleHigashi Honganji temple have similar names and are built very close to each other, I thought that they were originally one Honganji temple that became too small for its precincts and the two sites were split into two, but in fact they were not split into two for such a simple reason. It had a more complicated history. As a result of internal conflicts within the sect, in 1602 it split into Honganji with Kennyo as the twelfth head priest and Honganji with Kyonyo as the twelfth head priest. The former became the Honganji sect of the Jodo Shinshu sect, while the latter became the Otani sect of Shinshu Buddhism. Since Nishi Honganji is the head temple of the Honganji sect of Jodo Shinshu and Higashi Honganji is the head temple of the Otani sect of Shinshu, the sects are different even though they are both Jodo Shinshu.

In other words, Nishi Honganji and Higashi Honganji seem to have parted ways, but the buildings on their precencts are similar, which makes things complicated. They both have a Goeido Hall and an Amida Hall. They also have the same wooden gate with a golden hexagonal diamond lantern hanging below it. Looking around the precincts from underneath the gate of Nishi Hongan-ji's Goeido, I almost lost track of whether I was in Higashi Honganji or Nishi Honganji because of the similarity of the buildings.

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