Note 56 — Mei-gi ryaku-den. (Brief sketches of the lives of famous courtesans.)

The monastery of Ishi-yama was founded in 749 by the monk Riō-ben Sūjō, at the command of Shōmu Tennō. It was destroyed by fire in 1078 and rebuilt a century later by Yoritomo. The present hon-dō (main hall) was built by Yodo-Gimi, the mother of Hideyori, towards the end of the 16th century. The little room to the right of the hon-dō, known as Genji-nō ma, is said to have been occupied by the famous authoress Murasaki Shikibu during the composition of her great romance, the “Genji Monogatari.” Ishiyama-dera is famous for the beauty of its maple-trees in autumn. (Murray’s Hand-Book of Japan.)