Attraction
Temple tradition associates Prince Shōtoku with four institutions: Kyōden-in for religious and learned instruction, Seyaku-in for medicines, Ryōbyō-in for care of illness, and Hiden-in for people in need. Modern labels such as university, pharmacy, hospital, and welfare home can help readers orient themselves, but they should not be treated as exact sixth-century administrative equivalents. The tradition matters because it placed teaching, healing, and relief inside the temple's account of its own foundation. Shitennō-ji now operates educational and social-welfare organizations that explicitly look back to this ideal. The connection is institutional memory and renewed mission, not proof of uninterrupted modern-style services from 593 to the present.
