Zenkoji Temple

This historical large-scaled temple is about 59,000 square meters (about 5.9 ha) and was founded 1400 years ago. Many Buddhist facilities fill the compound. Some of them are; Daikanjin and Daihongan (they are also independent temples), and guests' quarters. This temple was founded at a specific time before the various subsects of Buddhism came into being. Some of the worshippers were those with power at the time, such as Minamoto no Yoritomo and Tokugawa Ieyasu , as well as the common people. "Following a cow brings you to Zenkoji Temple" is a famous phrase of the legend related to Zenkoji Temple , which means doing or receiving something good by accident or through the invitation of somebody else, and this phrase still has invited 6 million people every year for worship.

Being designated as a National Treasure, the Main Hall is the largest wooden-cultural building within Eastern Japan. The oldest Buddha statue of Japan, “Amida Triad Sharing One Halo” was brought to Japan in 552 CE together with the introduction of Buddhism, and has been enshrined as a Principal image of Buddha. O-KAIDAN Tour should be recommended during a visit to Zenkoji Temple . In O-KAIDAN Tour, visitors walk through the underground corridor running beneath the main hall in total darkness, and touching the key set just beneath the Principal image is believed to promise you the Land of Happiness in the afterlife.

The Principal image is completely hidden but another image made in the Kamakura period (the end of the 12th century) called “Maedachi Honzon” is opened to the public once in seven years by the traditional year-counting method.