Isshin-ji is said to have been founded in 1185 by
Hōnen.
Tokugawa Ieyasu camped at the compound in 1614–15 during the
Siege of
Osaka Castle and became a patron of the temple after his victory.
Kobori Enshū designed the temple's tea room or
chashitsu in this period called
Yatsu-mado no seki (八つ窓の席). The popular
Kabuki actor
Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII was buried in the grounds in 1854 and from that time large numbers of
urns were deposited there. By the mid-1880s there were over fifty thousand and, in part due to limitations of space, in 1887 the head priest commissioned sculptors skilled in
casting to create a statue of
Amida, combining the ashes with
resin. Bombing during the
Pacific War destroyed the temple and the six statues completed by then. The Nōkotsudō was the first structure to be rebuilt, in 1957, in order to house the images; this was followed by the
Hondō in 1966, Guest Centre (Nissōden) in 1977, and the
Nenbutsu dō in 1992. The
main gate, with two bronze guardian statues (
Kongōrikishi), was added in 1997, and was constructed with steel, reinforced concrete, and glass. The Sanzen Butsudō of 2002, designed to resemble a church, features a large mural of
Amida,
Kannon, and
Seishi appearing to welcome the dying. It is claimed that this painting is the largest
tempera mural in the world. ==
Okotsu butsu==