Commissioned by the wife of Fujiwara no Motohira (second
lord of Hiraizumi), the Kanjizaioin Temple Site has been selected
as a national Special Historic Site. Kanjizaioin Temple was originally
composed of one small and one large Amida hall. The Large Amida
Hall housed an Amida triad consisting of the Amida Buddha and two
bodhisattvas, Kannon and Shisei. The four walls were covered with
murals depicting scenes of the capital at Kyoto, the dais was silver,
and the balustrade was burnished gold. It clearly reflected the
lavish tastes of Motohira's wife. Excavations have revealed that
the temple was 120m east-west and 240m north-south, forming a well-proportioned
rectangle. Entering through the southern gate, worshippers saw the
pond called Maizuru ga Ike, which has now been restored. The small
lake is roughly square, about 90m on each side. There is a small
island slightly south of the center, and the rock formation on the
west side elegantly expresss a rocky coastline. Water flowed into
the pond like a waterfall from an arrangement of large river stones
to the north. All of this shows that Maizuru ga Ike was constructed
according to the rules set out by Japan's Heian era (794-1192) gardening
classic, Sakuteiki ("Treatise on Garden Making").
While small, this was clearly a first-rate Heian Pure Land garden.
Sadly, Kanjizaioin Temple was consumed by fire that sprung from
armed conflict in 1573. The only buidling that remains is a reconstruction
of the Large Amida Hall from the early 1700s. However, the Pure
Land garden centered on Maizuru ga Ike Pond was miraculously almost
competely preserved underground, and has been restored as a historic
park.
Muryokoin Temple was commissioned and built by Fujiwara no Hidehira, the third lord of Hiraizumi. It is recorded in the official history of the Kamakura Shogunate, Azuma Kagami, that the temple was also known as the New Hall. This was to distinguish it from Motsuji, the older temple, and indicates that Muryokoin was a subsidiary of Motsuji. Hidehira himself painted the hunting scenes in the murals covering Muryokoin's interior walls. These paintings were an illustration of the meaning of the Visualization Sutra. The principal image here was the Amida Buddha. There was also a three-story treasure pagoda (stupa) on the grounds. In its entirety, from the interior ornamentation to the orientation of the buildings and the topography itself, this temple was modeled on the famous Byodoin Temple at Uji, outside of Kyoto. However, the central island in the pond and the tiling in front of the central hall are departures from the design of Byodoin. Excavations have shown that the temple grounds were 240m east-west and 270m north-south, with a total land area of 6.5ha. This makes it somewhat larger than Motsuji. The garden is a prototypical Pure Land garden like those of Motsuji and Kanjizaioin, and borrows Mt. Tabashineyama as its mountain scenery and Nekoma ga Fuchi as its river in the same way that Byodoin used Mt. Asahiyama and the Ujigawa River. The east-facing temple buildings and garden looking west toward Mt. Kinkei must have been exceptionally beautiful. 
