KenchÅ-ji
The Kencho -ji (Japanese建 长 寺) is a Buddhist temple of the main Rinzai school of Japanese Zen in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. He has about 500 branch temples throughout Japan.
The Kencho -ji was built by the fifth Hōjō - Shikken, Hōjō Tokiyori, with the support of the Go - Fukakusa - tennō in 1253. Kamakura was at that time the capital of Japan and seat of government of the Kamakura Shogunate.
At the invitation of Tokiyori and the Go- Saga - tennō the Chinese Chan monk Lanxi Daolong came (Chinese兰溪 道 隆, Pinyin Lanxi Dàolóng, W.-G. Lan -hsi Tao -long; jap兰 渓 道 隆, Rankei Dōryū; 1213 - 1278 ) to the Temple, and practiced there until 1259, when he moved to the Kennin -ji in Kyoto, the office of the superintendent of. His successor was Wuan Puning (兀 庵 普宁, Wuan Pǔníng, Wu -an P'u -ning; jap Gottan Funei; 1197-1276 ). Third head was again Lanxi Daolong.
The Kencho -ji was home for the first time the introduction of Zen in Japan, the Chinese Chan monks Daxiu Zhengnian (大 休 正念, Dàxiū Zhèngniàn, Ta Cheng -hsiu lines; jap Daikyu Shōnen; 1214-89 ), Wuxue Zuyuan (无 学 祖 元, Wuxue Zǔyuán, Wu- hsueh Tsu -yuan, jap. Mugaku Absorbed; 1226-86 ), Qingzhuo Zhengcheng (淸 拙 正 澄, Qingzhuo Zhengcheng, Ch'ing -cho Cheng- ch'eng; jap Seisetsu Shōchō; 1274-1339 ).
Since the Kamakura period the Kencho -ji was the first of Gozan temple in Kamakura, making it one of the most influential temples throughout Japan, though he several times Naturkastrophen ( severe earthquake in 1293, as well as fires, inter alia, in the years 1315 and 1414) was heavily damaged.
From 1905, the Temple of the abbot Sugawara Tokiyasu, at the same time the Supreme Kencho -ji branch of Rinzai was conducted.
Among the attractions at the temple, the Buddha hall include ( in 1647 from Zojo (増 上 寺), an influential Temple of Amida Buddhism in Tokyo, under the auspices of the Tokugawa, brought here ), with its portraits of Jizō and Garanjin (伽蓝 神, Daoist guardian deities ), the temple bell from the period ( a national treasure ), and the seven large trees of Chinese juniper in front of the Buddha hall (also from the period ) and the allegedly designed by Muso Soseki garden.