- Established: 1480
- Japanese: 西見寺 (Saiken-ji)
Saiken-ji is a Sôtô Zen Buddhist temple in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture.
Established in the village of Terashima (today, the Terashima neighborhood of Hamamatsu) in 1480, the temple relocated to Hirata (another area of modern-day Hamamatsu City) in 1616. The temple was destroyed by air raids in 1945, but was rebuilt in 1961. In 1991, the temple relocated again, to its current location in the Nishigamoe neighborhood of Hamamatsu.
The temple's grounds contain the graves of two Ryukyuan nobles, members of Ryukyuan embassies to Edo. One is the grave of Nakanishi chikudun, a member of the 1710 mission who died on 11/2 of that year. The other belongs to Takamine peechin, also known as Gi Kokka, the gieisei of the 1850 mission, who also died while in Japan. A red and gold-colored structure in Okinawan style, complete with a shisa on top, was erected in 2004 to help protect the already worn tombstone of Takamine peechin from the elements.[1]
References
- Watanabe Miki. "Nihon ni okeru Ryûkyû shiseki." (personal website)
- Kimura Yoshisato 木村吉聡 (ed.), Ryukyu shisetsu no Edo nobori to Mitarai 琉球使節の江戸上りと御手洗, Shiomachi kankô kôryû Center 潮待ち館観光交流センター (2001), 88-89.
- ↑ Shirarezaru Ryûkyû shisetsu 知られざる琉球使節, Fukuyama-shi Tomonoura rekishi minzoku shiryôkan (2006), 93.