Qualla: Erin-ji

Erin-ji: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit さかおり (talk, CC BY-SA 3.0. "For a peaceful meditation, we need not go to the mountains and streams; when thoughts are quieted down, fire itself is cool and refreshing." These were the last words of Kaisen Joki, head priest of Erin-ji, spoken as Oda Nobunaga's soldiers set the temple ablaze in 1582. The monks refused to surrender a fugitive sheltering within their walls, and every one of them burned alive. That act of defiance defines the spirit of this Rinzai Zen temple in Koshu, Yamanashi -- a place that has been founded, destroyed, rebuilt, burned again, and restored across more than six centuries, each time emerging with its serenity intact.

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Image: さかおり (talk | CC BY-SA 3.0

Erin-ji: A Garden Before Kyoto

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit さかおり (talk, CC BY-SA 3.0. Before the famous moss gardens of Saihoji, before the dragon clouds of Tenryuji, there was Erin-ji. The Zen master Muso Soseki designed the temple's garden in the 1380s, when he was 56 years old, and the landscape he shaped here on the slopes of Yamanashi became the prototype for...

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Image: さかおり (talk | CC BY-SA 3.0

Erin-ji: The Tiger of Kai's Resting Place

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit さかおり (talk, CC BY-SA 3.0. Erin-ji is inseparable from the Takeda clan, the warrior dynasty that ruled Kai Province for generations. Takeda Shingen -- the legendary daimyo known as the Tiger of Kai -- revived the temple in 1541 after it had fallen to ruin during the Onin War. He installed Kaisen Joki as he...

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Image: さかおり (talk | CC BY-SA 3.0

Erin-ji: Burned Twice, Standing Still

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Painted by Matsumoto Fūko (1840 - 1923) on 1.25, 1860. Inscription by Itagaki Taisuke (1837 - 1919) on 5.18, 1872. 松本楓湖（1840～1923）が、安政7年1月3日（1860年1月25日）に描き、板垣退助（1837～1919）が、明治5年4月12日（1872年5月18日）に讃を揮毫したもの。両著作者死去より101年以上経過。, Public domain. The temple's first destruction came in 1582, when Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu invaded Kai Province and crushed the Takeda. Erin-ji was accused of sheltering Rokkaku Yoshisuke, a rival of the Oda, and the temple was set ablaze with its monks inside. But destruction carried th...

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Image: Painted by Matsumoto Fūko (1840 - 1923) on 1.25, 1860. Inscription by Itagaki Taisuke (1837 - 1919) on 5.18, 1872. 松本楓湖（1840～1923）が、安政7年1月3日（1860年1月25日）に描き、板垣退助（1837～1919）が、明治5年4月12日（1872年5月18日）に讃を揮毫したもの。両著作者死去より101年以上経過。 | Public domain

Erin-ji: Blades and Devotion

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit さかおり (talk, CC BY-SA 3.0. Among Erin-ji's designated Important Cultural Properties are two Japanese swords that trace the temple's role as a place of memorial and patronage. A tachi -- a long, curved sword -- was forged in 1705, measuring 79.5 centimeters, and donated by the powerful daimyo Yanagisawa Yos...

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Image: さかおり (talk | CC BY-SA 3.0