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*''Founded: [[1253]], [[Doryu|Dôryû]]''
*''Japanese'': 建長寺 ''(kenchou-ji)''
Kenchô-ji is the top temple of the [[Kamakura Gosan]] (Kamakura Five [top Zen] Temples), and the head temple of the Kenchô-ji branch of [[Rinzai]] [[Zen]].
It was founded in [[1253]], when [[Hojo Tokiyori|Hôjô Tokiyori]] invited the Chinese ([[Song Dynasty|Song]]) monk [[Doryu|Dôryû]] to found it. Dôryû would be the first to be named a Japanese Zen master by a Japanese Emperor.
Though originally quite large, with 49 ''[[tatchu|tatchû]]'' (sub-compounds), after many fires and such in the [[Sengoku period]], Kenchô-ji was rebuilt in the [[Edo period]] in its current form. A dragon painting on the ceiling of the ''[[hatto|hattô]]'' (lecture hall) was created by ''[[Nihonga]]'' painter Koizumi Junsaku in 2000, in honor of the then-upcoming 750th anniversary of the temple's founding.
The temple's bell, cast in [[1255]], has been designated a [[National Treasures|National Treasure]], while the main gate to the temple, built in [[1754]], is known as the Tanuki-mon ("badger gate") on account of a legend involving a [[tanuki]] who transformed himself into a monk and worked to raise money for the gate, in order to repay the monks' kindness to him.
{{stub}}
==References==
*Plaques on-site.
[[Category:Temples]]
[[Category:Kamakura Period]]
*''Japanese'': 建長寺 ''(kenchou-ji)''
Kenchô-ji is the top temple of the [[Kamakura Gosan]] (Kamakura Five [top Zen] Temples), and the head temple of the Kenchô-ji branch of [[Rinzai]] [[Zen]].
It was founded in [[1253]], when [[Hojo Tokiyori|Hôjô Tokiyori]] invited the Chinese ([[Song Dynasty|Song]]) monk [[Doryu|Dôryû]] to found it. Dôryû would be the first to be named a Japanese Zen master by a Japanese Emperor.
Though originally quite large, with 49 ''[[tatchu|tatchû]]'' (sub-compounds), after many fires and such in the [[Sengoku period]], Kenchô-ji was rebuilt in the [[Edo period]] in its current form. A dragon painting on the ceiling of the ''[[hatto|hattô]]'' (lecture hall) was created by ''[[Nihonga]]'' painter Koizumi Junsaku in 2000, in honor of the then-upcoming 750th anniversary of the temple's founding.
The temple's bell, cast in [[1255]], has been designated a [[National Treasures|National Treasure]], while the main gate to the temple, built in [[1754]], is known as the Tanuki-mon ("badger gate") on account of a legend involving a [[tanuki]] who transformed himself into a monk and worked to raise money for the gate, in order to repay the monks' kindness to him.
{{stub}}
==References==
*Plaques on-site.
[[Category:Temples]]
[[Category:Kamakura Period]]