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[[File:Tennoji-yanaka.jpg|right|thumb|500px|The main gate at Yanaka Tennô-ji, with the bronze Buddha and main buildings visible beyond]]

[[File:Tennoji-yanaka.jpg|right|thumb|500px|The main gate at Yanaka Tennô-ji, with the bronze Buddha and main buildings visible beyond]]

*''Established: late [[Kamakura period]], Seki Chôyô<!--関長耀-->''

*''Established: c. [[1394]]-[[1427]]''

*''Other Names'': 長耀山感応寺 ''(Chôyôzan Kan'ô-ji)''

*''Other Names'': 長耀山感応寺 ''(Chôyôzan Kan'ô-ji)'', 護国山 ''(Gokokusan)''

*''Japanese'': 谷中天王寺 ''(Yanaka Tennou-ji)''

*''Japanese'': 谷中天王寺 ''(Yanaka Tennou-ji)''

Tennô-ji is a Buddhist temple in [[Asakusa]], [[Tokyo]], which neighbors and is closely associated with [[Yanaka Cemetery]].

Tennô-ji is a [[Tendai]] Buddhist temple in [[Asakusa]], [[Tokyo]], which is closely associated with the neighboring [[Yanaka Cemetery]]. It is one of only a number of temples in the city established prior to the [[Edo period]].

Much of the surrounding neighborhood was, during the [[Edo period]], within the grounds of the temple. The temple, originally known as Chôyôzan Kan'ô-ji, is said to originate in the late [[Kamakura period]], with a prominent local family who were adherents of [[Nichiren Buddhism]].

The temple, originally known as Chôyôzan Kan'ô-ji or Kannô-ji, was officially founded around [[1394]] to [[1427]], but traces its origins to a visit by [[Nichiren]] to [[Seki Nagateru]]<!--関長耀-->, the local lord, in the 13th century. Nichiren is said to have left a sculpture of himself with Seki at that time, for which Seki built a small structure to house it, thus marking the initial origins of what would later become a proper temple.

In [[1698]], on the orders of the [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]], the temple was converted from Nichiren-shû to [[Tendai]]; it was then renamed Gokokuzan Tennô-ji in [[1833]].

Large public lotteries were held at Kannô-ji, as well as at [[Ryusen-ji|Ryûsen-ji]] in Meguro, and [[Yushima Tenjin Shrine]] in Ueno, during the Edo period. These three events thus came to be known as the "Three Lotteries."

In the early [[Meiji period]], a portion of the temple's grounds was given over to the City of Tokyo, and made into Yanaka Cemetery.

In [[1698]], on the orders of the [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]], the temple was converted from [[Nichiren Buddhism|Nichiren-shû]] to Tendai; it was then renamed Gokokuzan Tennô-ji in [[1833]]. Much of the surrounding neighborhood was, during the Edo period, within the grounds of the temple. In the early [[Meiji period]], a portion of the temple's grounds was given over to the City of Tokyo, and made into Yanaka Cemetery.

 

The temple's five-story pagoda was first built in [[1644]]. Destroyed in a fire in [[1772]], it was rebuilt in [[1791]] by a group of 48 artisans led by one Hotta Seibei from [[Omi province|Ômi province]]. A tower of zelkova (''keyaki'') over 34 meters high, it was for some time the tallest Buddhist structure in the [[Kanto|Kantô]]. Donated to the City of Tokyo in [[1908]], the pagoda survived the 1923 earthquake, and Allied air raids, but was destroyed by arson in 1957. Foundation stones and some other artifacts were discovered in archaeological excavation of the former site, which can still be found today on the edge of [[Yanaka Cemetery]].

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