Kenchō-ji (建長寺) is a Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, which ranks first among Kamakura's so-called Five Great Zen Temples (the Kamakura Gozan) and is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan. These temples were at the top of the Five Mountain System, a network of Zen temples started by the Hōjō Regents. Still very large, it originally had a full shichidō garan and 49 subtemples.
The temple was constructed on the orders of Emperor Go-Fukakusa and completed in 1253, fifth year of the Kenchō era, from which it takes its name. It was founded by Rankei Doryū, a Chinese Zen master who moved to Japan in 1246, spending some years in Kyushu and Kyoto before coming to Kamakura.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenchō-ji
Tags: Kenchō-ji Kamakura Japan
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Shōkozan Tōkei-ji (松岡山東慶寺), also known as Kakekomi-dera (駆け込み寺) or Enkiri-dera (縁切り寺), is a Buddhist temple and a former nunnery, the only survivor of a network of five nunneries called Amagozan (尼五山), in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the Rinzai school of Zen's Engaku-ji branch, and was opened by Hōjō Sadatoki in 1285. It is best known as a historic refuge for women who were abused by their husbands.[1] It is for this reason sometimes referred to as the "Divorce Temple".
The temple was founded in the 8th year of Koan (1285) by nun Kakusan-ni, wife of Hōjō Tokimune (1251–1284), after her husband's death. Because it was then customary for a wife to become a nun after her husband's death, she decided to open the temple and dedicate it to the memory of her husband. She also made it a refuge for battered wives.
In an age when men could easily divorce their wives but wives had great difficulty divorcing their husbands, Tōkei-ji allowed women to become officially divorced after staying there for two years. Temple records show that, during the Tokugawa period alone, an estimated 2,000 women sought shelter there. The temple lost its right to concede divorce in 1873, when a new law was approved and the Court of Justice started to handle the cases.
The temple remained a nunnery for over 600 years and men could not enter until 1902, when a man took the post of abbot and Tōkei-ji came under the supervision of Engaku-ji. Before then, the chief nun was always an important figure, and once it even was a daughter of Emperor Go-Daigo. Tenshū-ni, the daughter and only survivor of Toyotomi Hideyori's family, son of Hideyoshi, entered Tōkei-ji following the Siege of Osaka. Such was the nunnery's prestige that its couriers did not need to prostrate themselves when they met a daimyō's procession.
The two main buildings of the complex are the Main Hall and the Suigetsu-dō, but the latter is not open to visitors. The temple's old Butsuden, an Important Cultural Property, was bought during the Meiji period by businessman Tomitaro Hara and is now in the garden he built, Yokohama's Sankei-en.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōkei-ji
Tags: Shōkozan Tōkei-ji Kamakura Japan
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Rikugi-en (六義園 ) is a Tokyo metropolitan park in Bunkyō-ku. The name Rikugi-en means Garden of the Six Principles of Poetry which comes from the idea of the six elements in waka poetry while en means garden or park. The park consists of a small pond, trees, and a hill. The traditional Japanese garden within the park is a tourist attraction.
The construction of the park took place between 1695 and 1702 and was headed by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu by permission of the fifth Tokugawa shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and is a typical example of a garden from the Edo period. After the death of Yanagisawa it was neglected. The founder of Mitsubishi, Iwasaki Yatarō bought the garden in 1878 and restored it.
In 1938, it was donated to the Tokyo City government. It was specified as a special place of scenic beauty (特別名勝 tokubetsu meishō) by the Japanese government in 1953.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikugi-en
Tags: Rikugi-en Rikugien Garden Tokyo Japan
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Zuirokusan Engaku Kōshō Zenji (瑞鹿山円覚興聖禅寺), or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa prefecture to the south of Tokyo.
Founded in 1282 (Kamakura period, the temple maintains the classical Chinese Zen monastic design, and both the Shariden and the Great Bell (大鐘 Ogane) are designated National Treasures. Engaku-ji is one of the twenty-two historic sites included in Kamakura's proposal for inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.
It is located in Kita-Kamakura, very close to Kita-Kamakura Station on the Yokosuka Line, and indeed the railway tracks cut across the formal entrance to the temple compound, which is by a path beside a pond which is crossed by a small bridge.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engaku-ji
Tags: Engaku-ji Kamakura Japan
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Zuirokusan Engaku Kōshō Zenji (瑞鹿山円覚興聖禅寺), or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa prefecture to the south of Tokyo.
Founded in 1282 (Kamakura period, the temple maintains the classical Chinese Zen monastic design, and both the Shariden and the Great Bell (大鐘 Ogane) are designated National Treasures. Engaku-ji is one of the twenty-two historic sites included in Kamakura's proposal for inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.
It is located in Kita-Kamakura, very close to Kita-Kamakura Station on the Yokosuka Line, and indeed the railway tracks cut across the formal entrance to the temple compound, which is by a path beside a pond which is crossed by a small bridge.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engaku-ji
Tags: Engaku-ji Japan Kamakura
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