is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple located in the town of Matsushima,

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

, Japan. Belonging to the

Myōshin-ji is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, which serves as the head temple of the associated branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The Myōshin-ji School is by far the largest school in Rinzai Zen, approximately as big as the other thirteen branches combined: ...

-branch of

Rinzai The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

, it was founded in 1647 next to

Zuigan-ji is a Rinzai Zen Buddhism, Buddhist temple in located in the town of Matsushima, Miyagi, Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Belonging to the Myōshin-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, it was founded in 828 during the Heian period by Ennin, Jikaku Da ...

as the memorial temple for Date Mitsumune, the grandson of

Date Masamune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama period through the early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful feudal lords in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he w ...

. The temple is noted for its rose gardens. The

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

of Date Mitsumune is decorated with Namban art motifs inspired by late

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

contact with the West, and has been designated an Important Cultural Property. The temple also has a

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

attributed to Kobori Enshū.

Main hall

The Main Hall has a thatched

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

and is named the . It was dismantled and moved from

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

. Inside is enshrined a

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

statue of

Kannon Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

seated on a

lotus throne The lotus throne, sometimes called lotus platform, is a stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for a figure in art associated with Indian religions. It is the normal pedestal for divine figures in Buddhist art and Hindu art, and often see ...

. Made of

Japanese cypress ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' (Japanese cypress, hinoki cypress or hinoki; or , ) is a species of cypress native to central Japan in East Asia, and widely cultivated in the temperate northern hemisphere for its high-quality timber and ornamental qua ...

using the yoseki-zukuri technique, it is gilded over

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be c ...

Mausoleum

The three-bay or mausoleum of Date Mitsumune, grandson of Date Masamune, was built in 1647 and is an Important Cultural Property. Inside, the shrine of Date Mitsumune is decorated with motifs including spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs, roses and other western flowers. The Tamaya was damaged by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

Gardens

211030 Entsu-in Matsushima Miyagi pref Japan02s3

The gardens of Entsū-in are divided into four areas: a '' karesansui'' garden; a moss garden around a pond shaped like the character for

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

(心), attributed to Kobori Enshū; a rose garden inspired by the Date encounter with the Christian west; and a natural stand of

cryptomeria ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( syn. ''Cupressus japonica'' L.f.). It is considered to be endemic to Japan, ...

. In autumn the temple is celebrated for its '' momiji''.

Pilgrimage

Entsū-in is Temple No.1 on the Sanriku 33 Kannon pilgrimage route.

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Entsu-In (Matsushima) 1647 establishments in Japan Myoshin-ji temples Buddhist temples in Miyagi Prefecture Important Cultural Properties of Japan Mausoleums in Japan Gardens in Miyagi Prefecture Matsushima, Miyagi Temples of Avalokiteśvara