Ikegami Honmonji

The pagoda at Ikegami Honmonji. Dating to 1608, it has been designated an Important Cultural Property.

The gravestone of the crew of the USS Oneida, which sank in Tokyo Bay in 1870

• Established: 1274? or 1282
• Other Names: 本門寺 (honmonji), 長栄山 (choueizan)
• Japanese: 池上本門寺 (ikegami honmonji)

Honmonji is a Nichiren-shû Buddhist temple in the Ikegami neighborhood of Tokyo's Ôta-ku. It is one of the top four temples of the Nichiren sect, and is said to have been the site of Nichiren's death.

The residence of Ikegami Munenaka previously stood on the site, which is sometimes said to have been converted into a temple in 1274. Nichiren himself stayed with Munenaka at the latter's residence for some time in 1282, while attempting to recuperate from an illness, but died there in the end. Many sources assert the temple to have not been founded until after this event.

The temple's pagoda, which dates to 1608, has been designated an Important Cultural Property.

Prominent figures buried at Ikegami Honmonji include the crew of the USS Oneida, which sank in Tokyo Bay in 1870, as well as kabuki actors Ichikawa Sadanji I, Ichikawa Sadanji II, Ichikawa Raizô VIII, Kataoka Nizaemon IX, Kataoka Nizaemon XIII, and Kataoka Ichizô III, as well as painters Kanô Tan'yû and Kanô Takanobu, the wife and daughter of Kato Kiyomasa, and a number of women of the Kishû Tokugawa clan.

References

• "Honmonji," Sekai daihyakka jiten 世界大百科事典, Hitachi Solutions, 2012.
• "Actors Graves," Kabuki21.com.
• Ikegami Honmonji Official Site

External Links

• Ikegami Honmonji on Google Maps