Temples & Shrines: Zojoji

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Zojoji Temple

• Located in Minato-ku, south Tokyo.
• Cherry tree viewing area in Shiba-koen.
• Founded in 1393.
• Sangadetsumon Gate oldest wooden building in Tokyo.
• Family temple of the Tokugawa clan.
• Close to Tokyo Tower.

Zojoji is the main temple of the Jodo (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism. It was founded as the sect's eastern Japan seminary in 1393 and was relocated to its present site in 1598 by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Zojoji was once a massive complex containing 48 subsidiary temples, over 3000 priests and 150 temple schools. Times have changed and it now occupies but a fraction of its former area, with many of the buildings dating from the 1970s.

Zojoji was closely associated with the Tokugawa family that ruled Japan in the Edo Period 1603-1868, and is home to the mausoleums of six Tokugawa Shoguns and their family members behind the iron gate decorated with fearsome dragons.

Zojoji has a huge 21 meter (69 foot) high gate, the Sangedatsumon, dating from 1622, the only remaining part of the original temple and supposedly the oldest wooden structure in Tokyo.

Also of interest are: The Daibonsho, a giant 15 ton bell cast in 1673 and tolled six times a day. It is just inside the grounds on the right after you enter the Sangedatsumon gate, the Himalayan cedar, between the Daibonsho bell and the Sangedatsumon gate, planted by General Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, when he visited the temple as a guest of the nation in 1879, rows of colorfully clothed and decorated stone jizo, at the back of the temple on your right as you walk towards Tokyo Tower.

Free Admission

Access

Daimon Station on the Toei Asakusa and Oedo Subway Lines or Hamamatsucho Station on the Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku Lines. Hamamatsucho is also the terminus for Tokyo monorail trains to Haneda Airport.
Tel: 03 3432 1431
4-7-35 Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011.

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