Zenpuku-ji (善福寺), also known as Azabu-san (麻布山), is a Jōdo Shinshū temple located in the
Azabu district of
Tokyo,
Japan. It is one of the oldest Tokyo temples, after
Asakusa.
There is a monument to Townsend Harris and the First American Legation in Tokyo.
A 750-year-old
ginkgo tree at the entry to the cemetery, purportedly planted by Shinran and called "the upside down tree" (the largest ginkgo in Tokyo today), is a registered
National Natural Monument
A well in the approach to the shrine is supposed to have been struck by Kukai's bishop's staff. This well served the community during the
Great Kantō earthquake and the
Great Tokyo Air Raid.
People associated with Zenpukuji
Henry Heusken, attacked by
rōnin at
Nakanohashi on January 14, 1861, was brought back to Zenpukuji to die. The funeral procession from there to nearby Korinji was a critical confrontation between the
bakufu and the foreign legations.[1]
Masuda Takashi, founder of
Mitsui, served as an interpreter there at the age of 14.
For an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhist art, and Japanese Buddhist temple architecture, see the
Glossary of Japanese Buddhism.
References
^Willard Price "The Japanese Miracle and Peril", pp. 92–93; et al.[ISBN missing]