Day 6 – Zōjō-ji Temple
“San’en-zan Zōjō-ji (三縁山増上寺, San’en-zan Zōjō-ji?) is a Buddhist temple in the Shiba neighborhood of Minato in Tokyo, Japan. It is the Great Main Temple of the Chinzai sect of Shingon. The main image is of Amida Buddha. The founder of Zōjō-ji was Yūyo Shōsō (酉誉聖聡).
Shūei (宗叡, 809-884), a disciple of Kūkai, founded a temple named Kōmyōji (光明寺) at Kaizuka (貝塚, present-day Kōjimachi in Chiyoda, Tokyo); it is said to be the forerunner of Zōjō-ji. Centuries later, in 1393 during the Muromachi period, at the time of Yūyo Shōsō, the temple converted from the Shingon to the Jodo sect. Shōsō is thus the founder of the present-day temple.
Together with Kan’ei-ji, during the Edo period Zōjō-ji was the Tokugawa’s family temple. Tokugawa Ieyasu had the temple moved, first to Hibiya, then in 1590, at the time of expansion of Edo Castle, to its present location.”1
This pelasant temple is located just next to the Prince Hotel where we were staying. As you can see, it was raining terribly. The temple is heavily used, many locals were coming in and out of the temple on their way to work that morning.
