Zenshō-an (全生庵) is a Buddhist

Rinzai Zen The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of Cha ...

temple, located in

Taitō is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. In English, it is known as Taitō City. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 186,276, and a population density of 18,420 persons per km2. The total area is . This ...

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. It has a large collection of Japanese ''

yūrei are figures in Japanese folklore analogous to the Western concept of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, (''yū''), meaning "faint" or "dim" and (''rei''), meaning "soul" or "spirit". Alternative names include , meaning ruined or departed ...

'' paintings, which are normally exhibited in August, the traditional month of spirits and ghosts. These paintings were most probably kept by families during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

also to ward off evil. The temple has long been popular with influential Japanese figures, including

Prime Ministers A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rat ...

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

and Nakasone Yasuhiro. A large exhibition was shown the summer of 2015 in cooperation with the

Tokyo University of the Arts or is a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

History

The temple was founded in 1883 by

Yamaoka Tesshū , also known as Ono Tetsutarō or Yamaoka Tetsutarō, was a famous samurai of the Bakumatsu period, who played an important role in the Meiji Restoration. He is also noted as the founder of the '' Itto Shoden Muto-ryu'' school of swordsmanship. ...

. The temple retained significant influence with Japanese political leadership throughout the twentieth century.

References

External links

Homepage of Zenshō-an
* http://pinktentacle.com/2008/08/19th-century-ghost-scrolls/ Buddhist temples in Tokyo {{Japan-Buddhist-temple-stub