Temple
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TEL | 03-3474-3495 |
map | 3-5-17 Minamishinagawa |
URL/SNS | http://honsenji.net/ |
There is a community and there is a temple. New initiatives while preserving tradition.
This temple was founded in the Daio Era (806 – 810)to spread the teachings of the high-ranking Buddhistmonk, Kouboudaishi-Kuukai. The temple is famousfor a 600-year-old gingko tree, a bell that has a longhistorical connection to Geneva, Switzerland, andnumerous other sights such as a Jizo, guardian deity ofchildren, (Jizo Bosatsu), and the statue of Bishamonten(Vaisravana) of the Toukai Shichifukujin (Toukai SevenGods of Fortune) as the first of the Edo Rokujizou (EdoSix Ksitigarhba).
Honsen-ji Temple has been dedicated to the worship of Buddha facing the local people and the Buddha.
It is also famous as the temple where Bishamonten, one of the “Seven Gods of Good Fortune of the Tokai Region,” is enshrined, and is the oldest temple in Shinagawa with a history of over 1,300 years, from which the name “Shinagawa” is derived.
In order to make the shrine and temple, which are often thought to have a high threshold, accessible to all, the temple removes the fence in front of the gate so that the outside can be seen clearly from the precincts, and holds sutra copying sessions and programming classes for children.