Torin-ji
- Established: 1614
- Japanese: 桃林寺 (Tourin ji)
Tôrin-ji is a Zen temple on Ishigaki Island. Established in 1614 alongside the neighboring Yaeyama Gongendô, the two are considered the first, and today the oldest, Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine (respectively) in the Yaeyama Islands. Tôrin-ji is also considered the southernmost Buddhist temple in Japan. It is associated with the Myôshin-ji school of Rinzai Zen.
The temple was first established after a 1611 survey by Satsuma han concluded there were no Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines in the Yaeyamas, and Satsuma ordered the Ryukyu Kingdom to remedy this.
A pair of Niô guardian statues installed in the temple's main gate are the oldest surviving Buddhist sculptures made by Ryukyuan sculptors. Dating to 1737, they were carved from local magnolia wood (J: ogatama no ki) by a sculptor named Kudeken Shôchû 久手堅昌忠, assisted by Kabira Shôshô 川平正肖 and Kohama Tômei 小浜當明.[1]
