Heisenji Hakusan Jinja
History. A Tendai sect Buddhist temple, Heisen-ji, was founded in 717 AD by the Japanese Shugendō monk Taichō, who is said to have been the first person to ascend the sacred mountain Hakusan (2,702m) It became a centre for mountain worship involving amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn from local folk-religious practices, pre-Buddhist mountain worship, Shinto, Taoism and Vajrayana and ascetic practices involving climbing the mountain by various routes. The temple was mentioned in the "Heike Monogatari", and was the site of the 1183 Battle of Kurikara during the Genpei  War between Kiso Yoshinaka and the Taira clan. The temple was destroyed in 1338 by the forces of Shiba Takatsune for its support of the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo during the Nanboku-chō period and again in 1440. It was rebuilt with the support of the Muromachi shogunate, which levied a special tax on the seven provinces of the Hokuriku region for its reconstruction. As a result, the temple expanded to a powerful religious city consisting of 48 shrines and 36 temples, along with an urban complex of over 6000 living quarters for priests or shrine personnel. The  temple precincts governed a domain yielding revenues of 90,000 "koku", giving it a "kokudaka" which rivalled that of a "daimyō", and it could field an army of 8000 "sōhei" warrior-monks. However, the whole temple was destroyed again in 1574 by Asakura Kageaki during the Echizen Ikkō-ikki uprising. Despite subsequent effort of reconstruction, the temple precincts were reduced to less than one tenth its former area, and its "kokudaka" was reduced to 330 "koku"; many ruins of temples were buried under forests and fields. Due to the Ordinance Distinguishing Shinto and Buddhism issued at the beginning of Meiji Period , the temple abandoned Buddhism and became a Shinto shrine.