Oct 10, 2015

Mount Hiei | Japan


This is a postcard of Mount Hiei in Japan. Judging by the colors and type of printing I would say it was probably made between February 15, 1933 and August 15, 1945. Judging by the back of the card it was probably printed towards the end of the war [more information: how to Ascertain the Date (or Time Period) of Prewar Japanese Picture Postcards ]

Mount Hiei (比叡山 Hiei-zan) is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga prefectures, Japan.

The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by Saichō in 788. Hōnen, Nichiren, and Shinran all studied at the temple before leaving to start their own practices. The temple complex was razed by Oda Nobunaga in 1571 to quell the rising power of the Tendai's warrior monks (sōhei), but it was rebuilt and remains the Tendai headquarters to this day.

The Imperial Japanese Navy 19th Century corvette Hiei was named after this mountain, as was the more famous World War II-era battleship Hiei, the latter having initially been built as a battlecruiser. [wikipedia]

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