In 1582 the monk Kaisen burned alive here, reciting a Zen verse still quoted today.
The four-pillared gate (四脚門) you pass through to enter is a National Treasure, and beyond it lies the garden attributed to the founder Musō Soseki, now a national Place of Scenic Beauty (名勝).
Founded in 1330 by the Zen master Musō Soseki on land donated by Jikaidō Sadafuji, it became the family temple of the Takeda clan, and Takeda Shingen is buried here. In 1582, after the fall of the Takeda, Oda Nobutada's troops burned the temple, guilty of having sheltered a wanted man: amid the flames the monk Kaisen recited a Zen verse (‘安禅必ずしも山水を須いず、心頭を滅却すれば火も自ら涼し’, ‘meditation has no need of mountains and water: if you extinguish the mind, even fire is cool’), although historians debate how faithful it is.
ℹ️ Open 8:30–16:30 every day of the year. Ticket: 500 yen adults, 300 yen students (400/300 for groups of 20). Separate treasure museum: 500 yen adults, 100 yen elementary/junior high, closed every Thursday from December to March. By bus from Enzan Station (line for Nishizawa Keikoku), Erinji-mae bus stop.
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