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Zenpuku-ji (善福寺), also known as Azabu-san (麻布山), is a temple located in the
Azabu is an area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Built on a marshy area of foothills south of central Tokyo, its coverage roughly corresponds to that of the former Azabu Ward, presently consisting of nine official districts: Azabu-Jūban, Azabudai, Aza ...
district of
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. It is one of the oldest Tokyo temples, after
Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known for Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as . History The development of Asaku ...
.


History

Founded by
Kūkai , born posthumously called , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the Vajrayana, esoteric Shingon Buddhism, Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) und ...
in 824, Zenpuku-ji was originally a
Shingon is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō- ...
temple.
Shinran ''Popular Buddhism in Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture'' by Esben Andreasen, pp. 13, 14, 15, 17. University of Hawaiʻi Press 1998, . was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino (now a part of Fushimi, Kyoto) at the turbulent clos ...
visited the temple during the
Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...
and brought the temple into the Jodo Shinshu sect. Under the 1859 Treaty of Amity and Commerce, the first Tokyo legation of the
United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...
was established at Zenpuku-ji under Consul-General
Townsend Harris Townsend Harris (October 4, 1804 – February 25, 1878) was an American merchant and politician who served as the first United States Consul General to Japan. He negotiated the Harris Treaty between the US and Japan and is credited as the dip ...
.


Features

* There is a monument to Townsend Harris and the First American Legation in Tokyo. * A 750-year-old
ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the English common name. The order to which the genus belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, , and ''Ginkgo'' is n ...
tree at the entry to the cemetery, purportedly planted by Shinran and called "the upside down tree" (the largest ginkgo in Tokyo today), is a registered National Natural Monument * A well in the approach to the shrine is supposed to have been struck by Kukai's bishop's staff. This well served the community during the
Great Kantō earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...
and the Great Tokyo Air Raid.


People associated with Zenpukuji

* Henry Heusken, attacked by
rōnin In feudal Japan to early modern Japan (1185–1868), a ''rōnin'' ( ; , , 'drifter' or 'wandering man', ) was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. A samurai became a ''rō ...
at Nakanohashi on January 14, 1861, was brought back to Zenpukuji to die. The funeral procession from there to nearby Korinji was a critical confrontation between the
bakufu , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...
and the foreign legations.Willard Price "The Japanese Miracle and Peril", pp. 92–93; et al. *
Masuda Takashi Baron , was a Japanese industrialist, investor, and art collector. He was a prominent entrepreneur in Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan, responsible for transforming Mitsui into a ''zaibatsu'' through the creation of a general t ...
, founder of
Mitsui is a Japanese corporate group and '' keiretsu'' that traces its roots to the ''zaibatsu'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. Ins ...
, served as an interpreter there at the age of 14.


Notable interments

*
Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio Gijuku, the newspaper ', and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases. Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ideas about the or ...
, founder of
Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...


References


External links

* 9th-century Buddhist temples Buddhist temples in Tokyo Buildings and structures in Minato, Tokyo Buildings and structures in Japan destroyed during World War II 9th-century establishments in Japan Jōdo Shin temples 824 establishments Religious buildings and structures completed in the 820s {{Japan-Buddhist-temple-stub