Kan'ei-ji

Kan'ei-ji

Portal:Buddhism

Tōeizan Kan'ei-ji Endon-in (東叡山寛永寺円頓院?) (also spelled Kan'eiji or Kaneiji) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1625 by Tenkai. The main object of worship is Yakushirurikō Nyorai (薬師瑠璃光如来?). Because it was one of the two Tokugawa bodaiji (funeral temple; the other was Zōjō-ji) and because it was destroyed in the closing days of the war that put an end to the Tokugawa shogunate, its name is inextricably linked to that of the Tokugawa shoguns. Named after the Kan'ei era during which it was erected, this great complex used to occupy the entire heights north and east of Shinobazu Pond and the plains where Ueno Station now stands. It used to have immense wealth, power and prestige, and it consisted of over 30 buildings. Of the 15 Tokugawa shōguns, six are buried here. The Shinobazu Pond itself and the Bentendō temple which stands on its island used to be an integral part of Kan'eiji. Tenkai, liking Lake Biwa, had Benten Island built in imitation of Chikubushima, and then the Bentendō on it. At the time the island was accessible only by boat, but later a stone bridge was added on the east, making it possible to walk to it. The temple was destroyed during World War II, and the present one is a reconstruction.

The temple and its numerous annexes were almost completely destroyed during the Boshin War's Battle of Ueno and never restored. The site where it once stood was confiscated and is presently occupied by Ueno Park. What is today the temple's main hall was taken from Kita-in in Kawagoe (Saitama Prefecture) and transferred to the site of a former Kan'ei-ji subtemple.

Many temple structures had already been destroyed in the great Mereiki fire of 1657. A new hall was constructed inside the enclosure of Kan'ei-ji in 1698.

Kan'ei-ji's five-story pagoda (photo above) and the Tōshō-gū shrine were amongst the gems of the old temple enclosure. Both stand undisturbed by the passage of years since the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.