1602: The Founding of Higashi Hongan-ji
Tokugawa Ieyasu granted temple land at Karasuma-Shichijō in Kyoto to Kyōnyo, elder brother of Hongan-ji's chief abbot Junnyo and the former leader of the faction that had advocated fighting to the end during the Ishiyama War, allowing him to establish a new Hongan-ji. This split the institution into the Nishi (West) and Higashi (East) Hongan-ji, a division widely seen as a deliberate move by Ieyasu to weaken the political power of the once-formidable religious organization by dividing it in two.
Events this year
Month 5
Full construction of Nijō Castle began under commissioner Murakoshi Mosuke, with its main buildings prepared ahead of the following year's shogunal appointment.
Month 6
Fushimi Castle, burned during the Sekigahara campaign, was rebuilt as Tokugawa Ieyasu's residence and a center for governing the Kinai region.