Shōrinzan Darumaji (少林山達磨寺) 少林山達磨寺
Founded in 1697 to protect Maebashi Castle: this is where the Takasaki daruma began.
少林山達磨寺 is a temple of the Ōbaku school, founded according to tradition in 1697 on a rise west of Takasaki, to protect Maebashi Castle symbolically from the direction considered unlucky in Japanese feng shui. The custom of the Takasaki daruma, the round dolls without painted pupils that you buy for a wish and complete when it comes true, began here: the city still produces most of Japan's daruma today. The current entrance gate, built in 1997 for the three-hundredth anniversary, follows the style of the head temple, Manpuku-ji in Uji, the founding temple of the Ōbaku school in Japan.
Gunma
Gunma-Yawata
