(also spelled Kan'eiji or Kaneiji) is a

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple in

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 ...

, founded in 1625 during the

Kan'ei was a after '' Genna'' and before ''Shōhō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1624 through December 1644. The reigning emperors and single empress were , and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 411./re ...

era by Tenkai, in an attempt to emulate the powerful religious center Enryaku-ji, in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

. The main object of worship is .Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei It was named in a reference both to the Enryaku-ji's location atop Mount Hiei (''Tōeizan'' means "Mount Hiei of the East"), and also after the era during which it was erected, like Enryaku-ji (named after the Enryaku year period). 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 The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, it is inextricably linked to the Tokugawa ''

shōgun , 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 ...

s''. Once a great complex, it used to occupy the entire heights north and east of Shinobazu Pond and the plains where Ueno Station now stands.Seidensticker (1991:117) It had immense wealth, power and prestige, and it once consisted of over 30 buildings. Of the 15 Tokugawa

s, six are buried here. Many temple structures were destroyed in the great Meireki fire of 1657.Kaneiji
Columbia University. Accessed June 13, 2008. A new hall was constructed inside the enclosure of Kan'ei-ji in 1698. The temple and its numerous annexes were almost completely destroyed during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

Battle of Ueno The was a battle of the Boshin War, which occurred on July 4, 1868 (''Meiji 1, 15th day of the 5th month''), between the troops of the Shōgitai under Shibusawa Seiichirō and Amano Hachirō, and Imperial "Kangun" troops. Prelude Though the Sh� ...

and never restored. Much of the site where it once stood was confiscated and is now occupied by

Ueno Park is a spacious public park in the Ueno, Tokyo, Ueno district of Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. The park was established in 1873 on lands formerly belonging to the Buddhist temples in Japan, temple of Kan'ei-ji. Amongst the country's first public parks, i ...

. What is today the temple's main hall was taken from Kita-in in Kawagoe (

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

) and transferred to the site of a former Kan'ei-ji subtemple. Kan'ei-ji's five-story pagoda (photo above) and the Ueno 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. The Shinobazu Pond itself and the Bentendō Temple which stands on its island used to be an integral part of Kan'ei-ji. Tenkai, liking

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. It is located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13 ...

, had Benten Island built in imitation of Chikubushima, and then the Bentendō on it.Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu/Meiji Period
Shinobazu Pond
accessed on November 16, 2008 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 Bentendō Temple was destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and the present one is a reconstruction.

History

Tenkai wanted to create a powerful religious center and, to achieve that, he built Kan'ei-ji imitating Enryaku-ji. The temple was therefore erected north-east of

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established th ...

to ward off evil spirits that were believed to come from that unlucky direction. Tenkai's project enjoyed from the beginning the shogunate support, so much so that Tokugawa Hidetada in 1622 donated the land on which it was built. At the time, on that land there were the suburban residences of three ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

s'', ( Tōdō Takatora of the Tsu domain, Tsugaru Nobuhira of the

Hirosaki domain file:Hirosakijo.jpg, Hirosaki Castle, the seat of the Hirosaki Domain , also known as , was a ''tozama'' Han (Japan), feudal domain of Edo period JapanRavina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 It is located in Muts ...

and Hori Naoyori of the Murakami domain), but the land was expropriated and donated to Tenkai for the temple. He was also given 50 thousand silver Ryō and a building as a contribution. The chief abbot's residence, the ''Honbō'', was built in 1625, which is considered the year of foundation of the temple. After that, several ''daimyōs'' contributed with the construction of other buildings. The main hall, called as in Enryaku-ji's case ''Konponchūdō'', was finished only in 1697. In 1643, after Tenkai's death, disciple Kōkai took his place. His successor was Emperor Go-Mizunoo's third son Shuchōho Shinnō. From then on until the end of the shogunate, Kan'ei-ji's chief abbots were chosen among the Emperor's children or favorite nephews and called with the honorific .

Tokugawa and Kan'ei-ji

With the favor of the Tokugawa the temple prospered but, at least in the first years since foundation, it was just the Tokugawa family temple, while the sole funeral temple of the Tokugawa was still Zōjō-ji, where the second shogun Hidetada rests. His successor Iemitsu sent his remains to Nikkō because the Nikkō Tōshō-gū, mausoleum of

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

, founder of the dynasty, was there; he however also built a mausoleum at Kan'ei'ji. After that, the fourth ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ietsuna and the fifth Tokugawa Tsunayoshi were put to rest in Ueno, and Kan'ei-ji became a Tokugawa funeral temple like Zōjō-ji. Zōjō-ji didn't like the change, but after the next shogun Tokugawa Ienobu's mausoleum was built on its land, the custom became to alternate the temples at each generation, and that lasted until the closing of the shogunate era. Excepted Ieyasu and Iemitsu (buried in

Nikkō is a Cities of Japan, city in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city's population was 80,239, in 36,531 households. The population density was 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Nikkō is a popular destination for Japanese and ...

) and last shogun Yoshinobu (also known as Keiki, buried in nearby Yanaka Cemetery), all of the Tokugawa ''shōguns'' are buried either at Zōjō-ji or Kan'ei-ji, six at one and six at the other. In what used to be the Kan'ei-ji cemetery near the

Tokyo National Museum The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō wards of Tokyo, ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the , is considered the oldest national museum and the largest art museum in Japan. The museum collects, prese ...

are interred Tokugawa Ietsuna, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Tokugawa Yoshimune, Tokugawa Ieharu,

Tokugawa Ienari Tokugawa Ienari (, 18 November 1773 – 22 March 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991) ''Early Modern Japan'', p. 21./ref> ...

, Tokugawa Iesada and Iesada's wife Tenshō-in.Watanabe (2005:30) Ietsuna's and Tsunayoshi's mausoleums were destroyed in 1945. The cemetery is closed to the public, but can be seen from the street. The last visit of a Tokugawa shogunate member was on the 8 August 1863 by Tenshō-in, for the memorial service of her husband Tokugawa Iesada.

Battle of Ueno and the destruction of Kan'ei-ji

In his book ''High City, Low City'' Japanologist Edward Seidensticker describes the last days and the destruction of Kan'ei-ji. The revolutionary forces had occupied most of Tokyo, and Edo Castle and the majority of the Tokugawa troops had already surrendered, however one band of shogunate soldiers barricaded itself in Ueno with the intention to resist.Seidensticker (1991:27) About 2000 men strong, it was composed of members of the Shōgitai, a military unit of former Tokugawa retainers. They held the Kan'ei-ji's abbot in hostage, and maybe for this reason the Satsuma and Chōshū revolutionaries didn't attack immediately. On July 4, 1868 (''Meiji 1, 15th day of the 5th month''),NengoCalc
: 明治一年五月十五日; n.b., the old lunar calendar date, used for example by Watanabe, was misidentified as May 15. the final attack came and from early morning artillery rounds fell from Hongo's heights on Ueno. After a fierce battle, in the late afternoon the revolutionary forces broke through the defenses in the south at the Black Gate (the ''Kuromon''), near what is today Ueno Park's entrance. There were altogether about 300 dead, mostly defenders. Most of the artillery rounds had gone astray, causing fires in which the whole Kan'ei-ji and up to a thousand houses were destroyed. The temple's abbot fled in disguise and left the city by boat.

Notes

References

* * * Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652">Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/ iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652 ''Nipon o daï itsi ran">Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652">Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652 ''Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou
Annales des empereurs du Japon.
' Paris: Royal Asiatic Society">Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. *

External links

Kaneiji official website
Japanese)
Kaneiji official website
English)

1959 recording of the Temple's bell at 6 AM from

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