It was during this time also that Enryaku-ji and Mii-dera split away from one another, developing two branches of the Tendai sect, called Jimon and Sanmon.

For the most part, this was more a geographic rivalry than an ideological schism, but it was an intense one nonetheless, and only grew more severe after Enchin's death.

The rivalry turned violent in the second half of the 10th century, over a series of official appointments to other temples, and similar slights.

But in 993, the monks of Mii-dera took revenge, destroying a temple where Ennin, founder of Enryaku-ji's Sanmon sect, had once lived.

Over the course of the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, there continued to be similar incidents, over the appointment of abbots (zasu), involving many sōhei, or warrior monks.

At the end of the 12th century, the attentions of the monks of Mount Hiei were turned towards a greater conflict: the Genpei War.

[5] The monks of Mii-dera figured once more in the Genpei War, fighting alongside Taira sympathisers against Minamoto no Yoshinaka, who invaded Kyoto in 1184, setting fire to the Hōjūjidono Palace and kidnapping the retired emperor, Shirakawa II.

Following the Genpei War, there was a long period of relative peace, as the temples of Kyoto and Nara, including the Mii-dera, were rebuilt.

A year later, another battle erupted, over comments made by the abbot of Nanzen-ji; the monks of Mii-dera, along with their allies, defeated the shogun's forces once again.

These two families suffered heavy defeats at the hands of Nobunaga and his chief general Toyotomi Hideyoshi, so in 1571 they sought a stronger alliance with the temples.

Much of Mii-dera was destroyed, as the warrior monks failed against Nobunaga's large and highly trained samurai army.

The floor plan consists of a total of 6 rooms in 2 rows from north to south, and there is also a throne used by Emperor Mizunoo in one room in the northwest.The Kano school wall paintings in this structure were designated an Important Cultural Property in 1929; however, the painting in situ are reproductions, with the actual works stored at the Kyoto National Museum for preservation.

Following Hideyoshi's death, he pledged fealty to Tokugawa Ieyasu and in 1603 became daimyō of the 10,000 koku Hitachi-Futto Domain in what is now Inashiki, Ibaraki.

This six by seven bay structure with a wood-shingled irimoya-zukuri roof has been designated as a National Treasure as a representative example of Shoin-zukuri architecture of the late Muromachi period.

The pond contains a central island and a number of monoliths, as a grouping of stones forming a dry waterfall giving a sense of depth.