Confidence
| Field | Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Temple name | 94% | Bottom-left red square seal clearly reads 仲源寺 (Chūgen-ji) in tensho. The temple's bold-brush calligraphy style matches documented examples. The central red square seal includes the mountain name 寿福山 (Jufukuzan) in tensho. The temple offers two goshuin variants — Meyami Jizō and Daihiden — and the central calligraphy reading 目疾地蔵尊 places this as the Meyami Jizō variant. |
| Date | 88% | Right column reads 令和五年五月廿八日 = 28 May 2023, consistent with the Higashiyama itinerary that day. The brushwork on the date is somewhat compressed and the day character is partially overlapped by adjacent strokes, but the most plausible reading is 廿八 (28). |
Identification
- Name (Japanese): 仲源寺
- Name (Romanized): Chūgen-ji
- Common nickname: 目疾地蔵 (Meyami Jizō) — "Eye-suffering Jizō"
- Mountain name (山号): 寿福山 (Jufukuzan)
- Sect: 浄土宗 (Jōdo-shū / Pure Land school)
- Principal deity (本尊): 地蔵菩薩 (Jizō Bosatsu)
- Pilgrimage: 洛陽三十三所観音 — Rakuyō 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Temple #16 (the Senju Kannon is the pilgrimage's deity, with a separate goshuin)
- Location: Gion district, Shijō-Ōhashi area, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto — directly on Shijō-dōri between the Kamogawa river and Yasaka Jinja
- Date received: Most likely 令和五年五月廿八日 = 28 May 2023
Reading the goshuin
| Element | Reading | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 奉拝 | Hōhai — "humbly worshipped" | Top right, brush |
| 目疾地蔵尊 | Meyami Jizō-son — "Eye-suffering Jizō Bodhisattva" | Center, large bold brush |
| Lotus pedestal seal (蓮台) | Buddhist throne motif on red round seal at top center | Center upper, red |
| 寿福山 (tensho) | Mountain name in seal script | Center red square seal |
| 仲源寺 | Chūgen-ji — temple name | Bottom-left, brush |
| 仲源寺 (tensho) | Temple name in seal script | Bottom-left red square seal |
| Top-right small red rectangle | Likely 「洛陽十六番」 (Rakuyō 16) or 「奉納経」 marker | Top right, red |
| 令和五年五月廿八日 | 28 May 2023 | Right column, brush |
Why "Meyami Jizō" — the temple's two miracle stories
Chūgen-ji's distinctive name comes from a chain of folk-etymological wordplay:
Story 1 — "雨止地蔵" (Ameyami Jizō / "Rain-stopping Jizō"), 1228 CE
In Antei 2 (1228), the Kamogawa river flooded during heavy rains and threatened Kyoto. The flood-control official 中原為兼 (Nakahara Tamekane) went to this temple's Jizō statue and prayed for the rain to stop. The rain ceased, the floodwaters subsided, and the temple — or rather its principal Jizō — became known as 「雨止地蔵」 (Ameyami Jizō — "Rain-stopping Jizō").
This is also the origin of the temple's current name 仲源寺 — said to be derived from "中" (Naka, from Nakahara) + "源" (Gen, an alternative reading of Tamekane's family) according to one tradition.
Story 2 — "目疾地蔵" (Meyami Jizō / "Eye-suffering Jizō"), evolution
Over time, the pronunciation 「あめやみ (ame-yami)」 drifted in everyday speech to 「めやみ (me-yami)」, and worshippers reinterpreted the name as 「目疾 (me-yami)」 — "eye affliction". The Jizō became associated with healing eye diseases.
A second miraculous story explains why the Jizō took this on: the Jizō statue's right eye is visibly red, and the tradition is that the statue transferred a worshipper's eye disease into itself and absorbed it, healing the human and leaving its own right eye permanently inflamed.
So the same statue is both:
- Rain-stopper (protector against flooding) — original meaning
- Eye-healer (curer of eye diseases) — folk-etymological evolution
Both blessings remain active today; the eye-healing one is by far the more popular reason to visit.
Historical foundation
Chūgen-ji was founded in 1022 (Jian 2) by the master sculptor Jōchō (定朝, d. 1057) — the most influential Buddhist sculptor of the Heian period and the carver of the famous Amida statue at the Byōdō-in Phoenix Hall. The temple is thus over a thousand years old, although none of its current buildings are original.
Why this goshuin matters
This is one of two goshuin Chūgen-ji issues:
- 目疾地蔵尊 (Meyami Jizō-son) — the goshuin in this book, for the principal deity
- 大悲殿 (Daihikaku) — for the Senju Kannon, which is the Rakuyō 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Temple #16
The user received the Meyami Jizō variant, signifying paid respects to the eye-healing Jizō rather than to the Kannon pilgrimage deity. Anyone with eye conditions (or who works with eyes — students who read constantly, screen workers, artists, doctors) traditionally visits and receives this specific goshuin.
The Senju Kannon in the Kannon hall is a National Important Cultural Property — a wooden Thousand-Armed Kannon statue from the late Heian period (attributed to 春日仏師 / Kasuga Busshi), 248 cm tall. It's normally visible during Rakuyō 33 pilgrimage periods.
What the blessing carries
The Meyami Jizō goshuin specifically carries:
- 眼病平癒 (ganbyō heiyu) — healing of eye diseases (the temple's signature blessing)
- 災難除け (sainan-yoke) — protection from disaster (rooted in the original rain-stopping miracle)
- 病気平癒 (byōki heiyu) — healing of illness more generally
The temple is small and easy to miss — it's right on the Shijō-dōri sidewalk between the river and Yasaka Jinja, with no large gate or imposing architecture. Most visitors heading to Yasaka walk past it without realizing it's there. Receiving this goshuin signifies a deliberate stop at a temple that doesn't announce itself.