知恩院は浄土宗の開祖、法然上人（1133-1212）がお念仏のみ教えを広め、入寂された遺跡に建つ由緒ある寺院です。正式名称は華頂山知恩教院大谷寺という、浄土宗の総本山です。江戸時代、浄土宗を信仰した徳川家康公が、当寺を京都における菩提所と定めたことから寺領が拡大され、現在の大伽藍が築かれました。
This temple is historically significant because it was here that Jōdo shū(Pure Land Sect) founder Hōnen(1133-1212) spread the teachings of “nembutsu-only”(chanting only the name of Amitabha) until his final year, and it is here that he passed away. During the Edo period (1600-1868), the present temple grounds were built when Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun and Jōdo shū follower, deemed this temple to be his family temple.