The founding of this temple is uncertain. According to accounts such as the
Kamakura period "
Genkō Shakusho," the monk
Hōdō flew to Japan on a purple cloud from India via
Sui or
Tang dynasty China and the Korean kingdom of
Baekje. He discovered a
sacred mountain in the shape of an eight-petaled lotus flower in Kamo County,
Harima Province (present-day
Kasai, Hyōgo). Upon landing there, he named it "Mount Hokke," referring to the sacred mountain of the
Lotus Sutra. Hōdō was known as the "Empty Bowl Sennin" (Empty Bowl Sage) because he used his supernatural powers to send bowls flying and receive offerings such as rice. His reputation spread to
Asuka-kyō, and in the first year of the
Hakuchi era (650), at the request of
Emperor Kotoku, he was commissioned by him to build Ichijō-ji. Temples with legends claiming to have been founded by the hermit Hōdō are concentrated in eastern Hyōgo Prefecture, and the possibility exists that there was a real person from India who inspired this legend and became a central figure in the local faith. However, there is no historical documentary evidence to support this theory. Ichijō-ji does have six gilt-bronze Buddha statues dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries (three of which are designated
Important Cultural Properties (ICP), and the presence of ruins of abandoned temples and stone Buddha statues dating back to the
Nara period in the vicinity confirms that this region was a place where Buddhist culture flourished from an early period. It is believed that Ichijō-ji was originally located on Mount Kasamatsu, slightly north of its current location. At the foot of Mount Kasamatsu is a Nara-period stone Buddha triad known as the Furubokke Stone Buddha (ICP), with "Furubokke" likely referring to the former site of Ichijō-ji. The existing
three-story pagoda at Ichijō-ji was built in 1171 at the end of the
Heian period. It is believed that the temple complex was established at its current location by that year, but the exact date of relocation is unknown. According to the entry for July 23, 1285, in the autobiography "Kanshin Gakusei-ki" by
Eison, the founder of
Shingon Ritsu, beginning around 1283, Mount Hokke began requesting Eison's visit, with several senior officials making seven visits to
Saidai-ji in
Yamato Province, the headquarters of the Shingon Ritsu sect. Therefore, in the winter of 1284, Eison held a council of monks and decided to visit Mount Hokke, promising to visit in the spring of 1285. However, Eison was requested by both the
Kamakura shogunate and the
Imperial Court to take up the important Buddhist position of head priest of
Shitennō-ji. He could not refuse the imperial order and ended up working at Shitennō-ji in the spring of 1285, but visited the temple for several days en route to his new post. The temple suffered several fires, including one in 1523, in which the entire temple complex, with the exception of the pagoda, burned down due to civil wars of the
Sengoku period.
Akamatsu Yoshitsuke, warlord of Harima Province, rebuilt many of the buildings in 1562, but the complex was again destroyed by fire in 1628, and once more only the three-storied pagoda survived. The
main hall was rebuilt in 1628 with a donation from
Honda Tadamasa, the
daimyō of
Himeji Domain. The
Shōrō (bell tower), which has also survived, was completed the next year. Ichijoji Kasai13bs4272.jpg|Three-story pagoda (NT) Ichijoji Kasai17ss4272.jpg|Benten-dō and Myōmi-dō (both ICPs) Ichijoji Kasai16n4272.jpg|Gōhō-dō (ICP) File:Ichijoji Kasai06n4272.jpg|Jōdō-dō File:Ichijoji Kasai14n4272.jpg|Shōrō File:Ichijoji Kasai20ss4272.jpg|Kaisan-dō File:Ichijoji Kasai02n4272.jpg|Stone Kasatōba (Hyōgo Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property) ==Cultural Properties==