Kurume History Walks
No.38 Cultural Properties of the Zendo-ji Temple 1 善導寺の文化財１

Main HallThe Zendo-ji Temple was established in 1208 by Shoko (monk) under the patronage of the Kusano clan, alocal ruling family. Shoko was a high-caliber disciple of Honen (great monk) who founded the Jodo-shu school,
one of the most widely practiced branches of Buddhism in Japan.
In these eight hundred years, lots of things – both good and bad – have happened to the temple. Amongthese events, the worst was that in 1584, the head monk and thirty-seven subordinates were killed by a hostileclan of their patron, the Kusano clan by the reason of the latter’s betrayal. Three years later, they were defeatedby Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who is regarded as the second “Great Unifier” of Japan. The temple lost its patron, andthat brought them to the brink of extinction.
However, in later years during the Edo period (1603-1868), the temple was revived with the support of thenew lords of Chikugo Province, and then those of Kurume Domain.
When the new government was established in 1868, all domains were abolished. Then, the temple lost its
support again. But the temple survived the economic difficulties and today it is known as one of therepresentative temples of Jodo-shu school in Kyushu.
The Zendo-ji temple has about 15,000 square meters of land on which there are many wooden buildings
including eight designated National Important Cultural Properties, and one designated Prefectural Cultural
Property.
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Yakushido Hall (薬師堂 yakushidō)This hall is thought to be built in the lateSansodō Hall

Edo period. It is the easternmost of all otherHondō Hallbuildings and houses a wooden seated statue
Mausoleumof Yakushi Nyorai.

Scripture House

Kannondō HallShakadō Hall

Living quarters and lecture hallCamphor Tree

Daimon Gate (大門 daimon)
It is the oldest building among the others

Bell Halland was built in 1651. It has a gable roof withJōbon’in Temple

tiles and four legs. Designated a National

Ossuary

Important Cultural Property in 1988.

Treasure House
Jodoin Temple
Keishoin Temple

Sanmon GateSanmon Gate–main gate (三門 sanmon)
This gate is a two-story building with aFudan’in Temple

hip-and-gable roof.

Kangiin Temple
Shōrenin Temple

Bell Hall (鐘堂 shoudō)
NDaimon Gate

It was built in 1791 and houses a bronzebell, which was cast in 1661 with 1.88 meters

Yakushidō Hallhigh, and 1.23 meters across at the base.
Designated a

Cultural

Property by theprefecture. On New Year’s Eve, manyworshipers come to strike it.

Shakado Hall (釈迦堂 shakadō)
It was built in 1927 and houses a wooden
statue of standing Shaka Nyorai, which wasdesignated a Municipal Cultural Property.

Scripture House (経蔵 kyoudō)This building was donated by a person fromDaimon Gate

today’s Kitano Town. It is equipped with arevolving sutra storage shelf: a central pillar revolves and an octahedral case surrounds it. Pushing the shelfaround the pillar is believed to have much the same effect as orally reciting the sutras. (Today, it cannot bemoved due to its age.) Designated a Cultural Property by the prefecture on February 23rd, 2005.

Mausoleum (御廟 gobyō)
It was built in 1854 and houses the tomb of Shoko (monk), the founder of the temple. Its tombstone takes2
Kurume History Walks / No.38 Cultural Properties of the Zendo-ji Temple 1the form of the five-ring pagoda. Each ring
represents the element of the Universe –(from the bottom) sky, wind, fire, water,and earth.
Its basement bears an inscription of thewords for praising the monk.

Sansodo Hall (三祖堂 sansodō)This hall houses the wooden statues ofthree high monks: Honen who was thefounder of Jodo-shu school, Zendo who

Scripture House

was a Chinese high monk and had a great
influence on Honen and Shoko. Amongthese three, that of Zendo and Shoko were
designated National Important CulturalProperties.

Hondo Hall (本堂 hondō)
The Hondo Hall, main hall wasrebuilt in 1786 after having burned downby the fire in 1773. It measures 771 square

Sansodo Hall

meters and one of the largest Buddhist
halls in Kyushu.
There are 5 ornaments of the hollyhock pattern which is the Tokugawa family–the Shogun’s crest on theroof-ridge. It is said that the temple received 500 kokus* from the Shogun.
Also, its entrance was built with four pillars in anticipation of the visit by an imperial envoy with theMinister of the Right and the Left. They would pass side by side separately between pillars for entering the hall.
This building was nationally designated an Important Cultural Property on December 19th, 1988.
*‘Koku 石’ was a volume unit for measuring the rice quantity and for evaluating the income of a samurai in feudal Japan. One koku is about
180 liters of rice, enough to support one person for a single year.

The following six buildings were all designated Important National Cultural Properties on December 27th, 2000.

Hall (広間 hiroma)
It measures about 24.9 meters in length and 7 meters in width with a hip-and-gable roof. It is surrounded bya mud wall and a gate is roofed with copper plates. Then, there is the main entrance, reserved for special
visitors, which has a curved bargeboard with a dragon, a tiger, flowers, etc.

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Lecture Hall (書院 shoin)
Its thatched roof can be seen between theHondo Hall and the Hall. The building measures
11.8 meters in length and 7.9 meters in width. In thegarden, there is a “suikinkutsu”, a type of garden
ornament and music device (literally, water lyre
cave: an upside-down buried jar with a hole at thetop makes sound by water drops).

Residence of the chief priest and Meeting
Place (役寮・対面所 yakuryo, taimenjo)

Lecture Hall

These buildings are connected to the Lecture Hall and the Hall. The residence measures 8.9 meters by 6.9
meter, and the meeting place does 8.0 meters by 5.9 meters. A part of these had been sold to a branch temple in
Kitano Town in 1872 after having lost their patron. However, during the renovation in 2005, it turned out thatthat building surprisingly remained. Then, that was removed to the original location.

Large living quarter (大庫裏 ōguri)
It measures 15.9 meters by 12.0 meters and consists of a large earthen floor and a board floor. It was rebuilt
after the old one was burned by the fire in 1748.

Kitchen (釜屋 kamaya)
It is located on the north side of the large living quarter and measures 11.9 meters by 8.0 meters. There is alarge cook stove with three holes at the top to put pots (kama), an earthen floor, and a board floor. It is a rarecase that a kitchen is independently built, because the cook stove is usually placed in the living quarter. As aresult of excavation and research before the renovation, it was unveiled that a large stove used to be in theformer living quarter before the fire in 1748 and that when they rebuilt it, they separately built a kitchen.
Zendo-jiTemple

Inside Storehouse (中蔵 nagagura)This two-story building is 11.9 meters in length and 4.2
meters in width and was constructed as a miso storehouse in1794.

Cultural Properties Protection Department of KurumeAddress: 15-3 Jonan Kurume Fukuoka Japan 830-8520
Tel: 0942-30-9225
Date of revision: March 8th, 2013
Translated in October 2020

JR Kyushu –Kyudaihonsen LineZendo-ji Station

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