Shitennō-ji ［四天王寺］: The head temple of the Harmony (Wa) school, an offshoot of the Tendai school, in Osaka, Japan. It is the oldest extant Buddhist temple in Japan, founded by Prince Shōtoku in 587. Prince Shōtoku is said to have built it in gratitude for his victory in alliance with Soga no Umako over Mononobe no Moriya, the leader of the anti-Buddhist faction at court. According to tradition, Prince Shōtoku enshrined statues of the four heavenly kings ( shi-tennō) there because he had won the victory as a result of his prayer to those gods; hence the name Shitennō-ji, or “Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings.” Later Shitennō-ji became a branch temple of Enryaku-ji, the head temple of the Tendai school. It broke away from the Tendai school in 1949.