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*''Established: [[1682]]''
*''Japanese'': 護国寺 ''(gokoku-ji)''
The Gokoku-ji (lit. "Protection of the Nation Temple") in [[Tokyo]] was founded in [[1682]] as a private temple for [[Keishoin|Keishôin]], the mother of Shogun [[Tokugawa Tsunayoshi]].
The temple contains a [[Toshogu|Tôshôgû]], a [[Shinto]] shrine dedicated to the spirit of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], erected within the grounds in [[1691]]. Six years later, the main hall of the temple was rebuilt, and the temple was reestablished as a public temple, no longer a private space.
The temple is dedicated to Daigensui Myôô, a deity associated with the protection of the realm, and in particular the defeat or destruction of enemies of the state. Daigensui is also enshrined in at least one temple in [[Yamashiro province]], serving as protector of the Imperial capital of [[Kyoto]]; here, in [[Edo]], he was chosen as a guardian deity to protect the [[Tokugawa shogunate]].
Another prominent object of worship at the temple is an image of the 33-bodied Buddha (''sanjûsanjin''), commissioned in [[1704]] by Keishôin upon her 77th birthday; each of the thirty-three statues contains a strand of Keishôin's hair, and one is believed to have been sculpted to represent Keishôin herself, as a spirit, deity, or Buddha helping to protect the shogun and his realm.
Adjacent to the Gokoku-ji is the [[Toshima-ga-oka Cemetery]], which contains exclusively Imperial graves.
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==References==
*Anne Walthall, "Hiding the shoguns: Secrecy and the nature of political authority in Tokugawa Japan," in Bernard Scheid and Mark Teeuwen (eds.) ''The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion'', Routledge (2006), 347-348.
==External Links==
*[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E8%AD%B7%E5%9B%BD%E5%AF%BA&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=35.721883,139.725977&spn=0.004643,0.010568&sll=37.269174,-119.306607&sspn=9.315002,21.643066&t=h&z=17 Gokoku-ji on Google Maps]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Temples]]