Gioji Temple, the
“convent of tragic love”
of the Tale of the Heike

Gioji Temple is a modest thatched hut surrounded by a bamboo grove and maple trees which appeared in “The Tale of the Heike”, known as the convent of tragic love to which the dancer Gio fled from their home in the capital with her mother and younger sister to become nuns when Gio fell out of favor with Taira no Kiyomori.
Gioji Temple is located in the temple precincts of the former Oujyo-in Temple and is said to have been founded by Honen Shonin’s disciple Ryochin. The spacious temple grounds of Oujyo-in Temple, which ranged up and down the mountain, later fell into dilapidation, and only the modest convent remained, which later came to be known as Gioji Temple.