Sōjiji‟s status as a rival to Eiheiji was not a new development.
Sōjiji led the largest network of affiliated temples in the Sōtō
school. In the sixteenth century Sōjiji repeatedly had proclaimed
itself the head temple of all Sōtō institutions.In 1560 Takeda
Shingen (1521-1573) stipulated that only Eiheiji and Sōjiji were
authorized to confer ecclesiastical honors on Zen monks in his
domains.In 1589 the imperial court officially recognized Sojiji as
the head temple of the Sōtō school, a title that the court previously
had bestowed on Eiheiji.The Tokugawa shogunate also acknowledged
both Eiheiji and Sōjiji as head temples when in 1615
it issued separate sets of regulatory codes (hatto) to each
monastery.Throughout this period Sōjiji and Eiheiji were rivals in
the true sense of the word. In each of the major Sōtō controversies
of the Tokugawa period—on questions ranging from dharma
succession to the proper manner of wearing the Buddhist robe—
Eiheiji and Sōjiji staked out opposing positions on the issues.
With the emergence of the new Meiji government,
however, Eiheiji and Sojiji concluded a formal truce. Their
compact, signed in 1872, stated that past differences and disputes
were to be resolved in accordance with “the maxims of the
founding patriarch, Dōgen, and the aspirations of the late teacher,
Keizan” (shuso Dōgen no kakun to senshi Keizan no sokai). Six
years later, in 1878, the Sōtō school published the first modern
biography of Keizan. Written by Takiya Takushu (1836-1897),
who was at that time Sōjiji‟s chief Tokyo representative, the new
biography had the clear intention of glorifying Keizan by
emphasizing his and Sōjiji‟s importance in early Sōtō history.
From Soto Zen in Medieval Japan CHAPTER 8
by historian W i l l i a m B o d i f o r d
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and, on trying to get back in, was told it was full! 
Originally Posted by Konan
