page_title: Kenchō-ji
section_title: Buildings and points of interest
hierarchical_section_title: Kenchō-ji / Buildings and points of interest
caption_attribution_description: The Karasu-tengu at the Hansōbō shrine within Kenchō-ji, Kamakura
context_page_description: Kenchō-ji is a Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, which ranks first among Kamakura's so-called Five Great Zen Temples and is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan. These temples were at the top of the Five Mountain System, a network of Zen temples started by the Hōjō Regents. Still very large, it originally had a full shichidō garan and 49 subtemples.
  The sangō is Kofukusan.
  The temple was constructed on the orders of Emperor Go-Fukakusa and completed in 1253, fifth year of the Kenchō era, from which it takes its name. It was founded by Rankei Doryū, a Chinese Zen master who moved to Japan in 1246, spending some years in Kyushu and Kyoto before coming to Kamakura.
context_section_description: Kenchō-ji originally consisted of a shichidō garan with 49 subtemples, but most of these were lost in fires in the 14th and 15th centuries. It still is a classic example of a Zen garan with its buildings aligned north to south. The complex currently consists of ten subtemples. Its most important structures include (in order from the first gate):
  The Sōmon (outer gate), where the ticket booths are, which was moved here from the Hanju Zanmai-in temple in Kyoto.
  The Sanmon (Main Gate), built in 1754 with donations from all over the Kantō region. According to a popular legend, a raccoon dog (a tanuki) helped raise the money transforming himself into a monk to repay the kindness of the temple's priests. For this reason, even today the sanmon is often called Tanuki-mon (狸門, Tanuki gate).
  The Bonshō (Temple Bell), cast in 1255, which is a National Treasure.
  The Butsuden (lit. Buddha Hall), an Important Cultural Property which was moved to Kamakura from Zōjō-ji in Tokyo in 1647.
  The Hattō (Dharma Hall), built in 1814, where public ceremonies are held. It is the largest Buddhist wooden structure in Eastern Japan.
  The Karamon (Grand Gate), another Important Cultural Property, was brought here from Zōjō-ji together with the Butsuden.
  The Hōjō (the head priest's living quarters), also moved from the Hanju Zanmai-in in Kyoto, used for religious ceremonies.
  The Monastery, where monks are trained in meditation, which is however permanently closed to the public. It consists of a Zen-dō (meditation hall), of a kaisan-dō (founder's hall, a hall enshrining the temple's founder) and of the administrative offices.
  The large Zen garden behind the Hōjō called Shin-ji Ike (心字池, Mind character pond) and which is shaped like the Chinese character for mind (心), was designed by famous Zen teacher, scholar, poet, and garden designer Musō Soseki.
  A recent ceiling painting by Koizumi Junsaku (2003) portraying a dragon decorates the ceiling of the Hattō, the building behind the Butsuden. For this reason, the Hattō is often called Ryūō-den (龍王殿).
  In front of the Butsuden stand some great Chinese juniper trees which have been designated Natural Treasures. At the time of the founding of the temple, these big trees were simple saplings brought from China by the founder Doryū. Underneath the biggest a great stone monument surrounded by chains commemorates those of Kamakura's citizens who died during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5.
caption: The Karasu-tengu to whom the Hansōbō is dedicated
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