, abbreviated Daishin-ji, is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple of the Jōdo sect in

Minato, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits th ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In 1611, the founder, Ryō-kō Shōnin, was given land for the temple in Minami Hatchōbori by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. The temple was originally named Hōtōzan. In 1635, it was relocated to its present site in Mita 4 chōme by order of the government, to accommodate the continuing expansion of

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

. In 1636, Ishimura Genzaemon, considered the first

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...

craftsman in Edo, was buried in the temple. From Ishimura Omi, the graves of eleven generations of the family were also constructed there. For this reason, the temple is sometimes nicknamed "The Shamisen Temple."

External links

Daishin-ji
Web site (in Japanese) Buildings and structures in Minato, Tokyo Buddhist temples in Tokyo {{tokyo-geo-stub