Daigo-ji 醍醐寺

Daigo-ji (醍醐寺) is a Buddhist temple located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. It is the head temple of the Shingon-shū Daigo-ha sect of Japanese Buddhism and its honzon is a hibutsu statue of Yakushi Nyorai. The temple's full name is Kasatori-yama Daigo-ji (笠取山 醍醐寺). The temple is the 11th stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage route. Daigo, literally "ghee", is used figuratively to mean "crème de la crème" and is a metaphor of the most profound part of Buddhist thoughts. The temple has a vast grounds of over 6.6 million square meters on Mount Daigo (Kasatoriyama), which spreads southeast of Kyoto City, and houses approximately 150,000 temple treasures, including numerous National Treasures and important cultural properties. It is also known as the site where Toyotomi Hideyoshi held his "Daigo Cherry Blossom Viewing" event. Daigo-ji is one of the 17 component parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities)". The serial property was inscribed in 1994 under criteria (ii) and (iv) for its testimony to the development of Japanese wooden architecture and garden design; the overall site covers 1,056 ha with a 3,579 ha buffer zone.