Mokuboji

• Japanese: 木母寺 (Mokuboji)

Mokuboji is a Buddhist temple on the banks of the Sumidagawa in eastern Tokyo. It is known as the site of the Umewaka-tsuka, a burial mound supposedly containing the remains of Umewaka, a young boy kidnapped and killed by slavers - a story which forms the backstory of the Noh play Sumidagawa. The temple was a notable meisho (famous place) throughout the Edo period for this.

The temple was abolished in 1888 as part of the anti-Buddhist haibutsu kishaku policy of the Meiji government, and the site came to be known as Umewaka Shrine, a shrine dedicated to Umewaka Sannô Gongen, a deified manifestation of the boy buried there. However, the temple was re-established the following year.

References

• Plaques on-site.[1]