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A branch temple of [[Soji-ji|Shogakuzan Sôji-ji]] in [[Noto province]],<ref>Miyagi Eishô 宮城栄昌, Ryûkyû shisha no Edo nobori 琉球使者の江戸上り, Tokyo: Daiichi Shobô (1982), 80.</ref> it was one of the Three Temples of Kagoshima (''mikedera'', 三ヶ寺), along with [[Jokomyo-ji (Kagoshima)|Jôkômyô-ji]] and [[Dairyu-ji|Dairyû-ji]].<ref>Plaques on-site in Kanmachi, Kagoshima.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15066879717/sizes/h/]</ref> Though the temple is no longer in operation, the Shimazu clan cemetery which houses the graves of numerous generations of clan heads continues to be maintained on the site. Gyokuryû Middle School & High School now stands on the former site of the Fukushô-ji temple buildings.

A branch temple of [[Soji-ji|Shogakuzan Sôji-ji]] in [[Noto province]],<ref>Miyagi Eishô 宮城栄昌, Ryûkyû shisha no Edo nobori 琉球使者の江戸上り, Tokyo: Daiichi Shobô (1982), 80.</ref> it was one of the Three Temples of Kagoshima (''mikedera'', 三ヶ寺), along with [[Jokomyo-ji (Kagoshima)|Jôkômyô-ji]] and [[Dairyu-ji|Dairyû-ji]].<ref>Plaques on-site in Kanmachi, Kagoshima.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15066879717/sizes/h/]</ref> Though the temple is no longer in operation, the Shimazu clan cemetery which houses the graves of numerous generations of clan heads continues to be maintained on the site. Gyokuryû Middle School & High School now stands on the former site of the Fukushô-ji temple buildings.

The temple was established in [[1394]] when [[Shimazu Motohisa]] invited the [[Zen]] priest [[Sekioku Shinryo|Sekioku Shinryô]] to Kagoshima to establish a ''bodaiji'' for the Shimazu clan. It later became one of the three largest head temples for monk registrars (僧録, ''sôroku'') in the country, overseeing all the Buddhist monks in southern Kyushu, as well as a ''chokuganjo'', a prayer hall that could be used by the [[Emperor]]. Fukushô-ji branch temples were established in numerous locations across Kyushu, Shikoku, and the [[Chugoku region|Chûgoku region]].

The temple was established in [[1394]] when [[Shimazu Motohisa]] invited the [[Zen]] priest [[Sekioku Shinryo|Sekioku Shinryô]] to Kagoshima to establish a ''bodaiji'' for the Shimazu clan. It later became one of the three largest head temples for monk registrars (僧録, ''sôroku'') in the country, overseeing all the Buddhist monks in southern Kyushu, as well as a ''chokuganjo'', a prayer hall that could be used by the [[Emperor]]. Fukushô-ji branch temples were established in numerous locations across Kyushu, Shikoku, and the [[Chugoku region|Chûgoku region]]. In the 15th century, Fukushô-ji was the site of a notable meeting between [[Francis Xavier]] and the Buddhist monk [[Ninshitsu]], in which they discussed the possibility of Christian missionary activity in Kagoshima.

Fukushô-ji was abolished in [[1869]], as part of the ''[[haibutsu kishaku]]'' anti-Buddhist campaigns of the early [[Meiji period]].

Fukushô-ji was abolished in [[1869]], as part of the ''[[haibutsu kishaku]]'' anti-Buddhist campaigns of the early [[Meiji period]]. The following year, some 375 [[Christians]] fleeing persecution by the [[Meiji government]] in [[Nagasaki]] came to Kagoshima seeking refuge, and took up residence on the former site of the temple. They are said to have been treated well there, and most returned to Nagasaki by [[1873]]; however, 53 Christians who died while in Kagoshima were buried at a Christian cemetery on a hill just above the samurai cemetery, created for that purpose in [[1905]] by Father [[Emile Raguet]].

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