Shogo-in owes its existence to a pilgrimage. In 1090, the retired Emperor Shirakawa wished to make the arduous journey to the Kumano Sanzan -- the three sacred shrines deep in the mountainous Kii Peninsula south of Kyoto. He needed a guide who understood the mountain paths and the spiritual practices they demanded. That guide was Zoyo, a monk of Onjo-ji temple and a renowned practitioner of Shugendo, the syncretic tradition blending Buddhism, Shinto, and Taoism through rigorous mountain asceticism. Zoyo had trained on Mount Omine in Kumano, following in the footsteps of his master Enchin. For successfully leading the emperor's pilgrimage, Zoyo was appointed the first Kumano Sanzan Kengyo -- general manager of the three sacred sites -- and received a temple near the Kumano Shrine in Kyoto, said to have been founded by the legendary ascetic En no Gyoja. Zoyo built Shogo-in on these grounds, though the name itself does not appear in documentary records until 1132, after his death.

What elevated Shogo-in beyond an ordinary temple was the decision of Prince Shizue, son of the retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, to take the tonsure and join the monastery. From that moment, Shogo-in became a monzeki temple -- a designation reserved for institutions whose head was a member of the imperial family or a descendant of the five regent houses. Prince Kakusuke, son of the retired Emperor Go-Saga, held the position of monzeki for an extraordinary 70 years, simultaneously serving as abbot of Onjo-ji and inspector of all three Kumano Sanzan sites. But the temple could not escape the turbulence of medieval Japan. After Kakusuke's death, succession disputes entangled Shogo-in in the conflict between the Southern and Northern Courts, drawing the intervention of the Muromachi shogunate. During the devastating Onin War, the temple burned to the ground. Its head priest, Michioki, was accused of sympathizing with the Western Army and fled to Mino Province before eventually being pardoned.

Throughout the Sengoku period of civil warfare, Shogo-in was governed by head priests from the powerful Konoe family, who served as intermediaries between the shogunate and regional warlords. The temple's physical fate continued to be turbulent. Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered it moved from its original site to Karasuma Imadegawa. Then the great Kyoto fire of 1676 destroyed it again during the Edo period. When it was finally rebuilt, the temple returned to its original location -- the spot where Zoyo had established it nearly six centuries earlier. That continuity of place carries weight in a city where fires, wars, and earthquakes have erased so much. Twice in the late Edo period, the emperor himself took residence at Shogo-in when the palace was unavailable, a testament to the temple's stature and its intimate connection with the throne.

The temple's current structures include the Main Hall and the graceful Shinden Hall, rebuilt after centuries of destruction. Among Shogo-in's most significant possessions is a statue of Enchin -- the Buddhist monk whose lineage of Shugendo practice stretches back through the temple's entire history -- dated to 1143 and designated an Important Cultural Property. In 2000, a multi-year renovation of the temple was completed to mark the 1,300th anniversary of the death of En no Gyoja, the semi-legendary founder of Shugendo itself. The central image of worship, the honzon, is a figure of Fudo Myoo -- the fearsome, flame-wreathed Buddhist deity associated with discipline, willpower, and the conquest of inner obstacles. For a temple dedicated to the mountain ascetics who once climbed sacred peaks in prayer and physical endurance, the choice of guardian deity could not be more fitting.