is a 687 m high mountain in Sasayama

Sasayama, Hyogo

is a city located in the central eastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.The city was established on April 1, 1999, merging the towns of the former "Taki District" ....

, Hyōgo Prefecture

Hyogo Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Another name is Mount Kosen-ji, literally, "Mountain of Kosen-ji."

Religion and History

Mount Matsuo is one of the major objects of worships for the people in this area. On this mountain, a Buddhist temple named ‘Kosen-ji’ was established in 645 by Hodo Sennin. This temple was re-established by Denkyo Taishi

Saicho

was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school in Japan, based around the Chinese Tiantai tradition he was exposed to during his trip to China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have...

 in the 9th century. The temple was burned by Akechi Mitsuhide

Akechi Mitsuhide

, nicknamed Jūbei or called from his clan name and title, was a samurai who lived during the Sengoku period of Feudal Japan.Mitsuhide was a general under daimyo Oda Nobunaga, although he became infamous for his betrayal in 1582, which led to Nobunaga's death at Honno-ji...

 in the 16th century, but re-established again by Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...

. In the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

, it is said that there were 28 monk houses in the mountain.
Kosen-ji was also destroyed as a result of the Shinbutsu bunri

Shinbutsu Bunri

The term in Japanese indicates the forbidding by law of the amalgamation of kami and buddhas made during the Meiji Restoration. It also indicates the effort made by the Japanese government to create a clear division between native kami beliefs and Buddhism on one side, and Buddhist temples and...

, literally, Shinto-Buddhism-separation.

Sakai Castle once stood on the top of this mountain; however, it was destroyed after the decline of the Sakai clan

Sakai clan

The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Nitta branch of the Minamoto clan, who were in turn descendants of Emperor Seiwa. Serata Arichika, a samurai of the 14th century, was the common ancestor of both the Sakai clan and the Matsudaira clan, which the Sakai later served...

.

Access

• Furuichi Station
  Furuichi Station (Hyogo)
  is a railway station in Sasayama, Hyogo, Japan, on the Fukuchiyama Line operated by West Japan Railway Company. It is located near Mount Shirakami and Mount Matsuo. Trains connect from this station northbound for Sasayamaguchi Station or southbound for Sanda Station roughly every 10...
  
   of Fukuchiyama Line
  Fukuchiyama Line
  The is a railway line of West Japan Railway between Osaka and Fukuchiyama, Japan. Within JR West's "Urban Network" covering the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan region, the line from Osaka to Sasayamaguchi is also called the JR Takarazuka Line...
  
  
• Sasayamaguchi Station
  Sasayamaguchi Station
  is a train station on the West Japan Railway Company Fukuchiyama Line in Sasayama, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.- Layout :This station has a side platform with a track and an island platform with 2 tracks....
  
   of Fukuchiyama Line
  Fukuchiyama Line
  The is a railway line of West Japan Railway between Osaka and Fukuchiyama, Japan. Within JR West's "Urban Network" covering the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan region, the line from Osaka to Sasayamaguchi is also called the JR Takarazuka Line...