# Kan'ei-ji

> Founded in 1625 by the monk Tenkai as the 'Hiei of the east', Kan'ei-ji was the Tokugawa family temple and holds the graves of six shoguns. The 1868 Battle of Ueno burned it, and today's main hall is a building moved from Kawagoe in 1879.

- Prefecture: Tokyo
- Type: Temple
- Address: Tokyo, Japan
- Opening hours: Mon–Sun 09:00–17:00
- Hours note: The gate of the Konponchudo (main hall) and temple office opens 9:00 to 17:00. The Kaisando (Ryodaishi) hall has its own gate, open 9:00 to 16:00.
- Official site: https://kaneiji.jp/

Almost everything you see in Ueno Park was once this temple. The monk Tenkai founded Kan'ei-ji in 1625 and named its mountain Toeizan, the 'Hiei of the east', after the Tendai headquarters above Kyoto. Its grand Konponchudo, built in 1698, stood where the park's big fountain now sprays. In 1868 the Shogitai, last loyalists of the shogunate, made their stand here, and the hall burned in a single day of fighting. Most of the grounds became the park. The temple rebuilt on a former subtemple site at the northern edge, and the Konponchudo there now is the old Motochido of Kitain in Kawagoe, carried to Tokyo and reassembled in 1879. Its hidden main image, a Yakushi said to have been carved by Saicho, is an Important Cultural Property. Six shoguns lie in the temple's mausolea, among them Tsunayoshi and Yoshimune; most of the mausoleum buildings burned in the Second World War. It is a quiet place, behind the Tokyo National Museum, and easy to miss. Shops are few in this residential corner, so eat in Ueno or Yanaka. The gate closes at 17:00.

## FAQ

### Which shoguns are buried at Kan'ei-ji?

Six: the 4th shogun Ietsuna, 5th Tsunayoshi, 8th Yoshimune, 10th Ieharu, 11th Ienari and 13th Iesada. Most of the mausoleum buildings burned in the Second World War; the Chokugakumon gate, the water basin pavilion and the tomb pagodas survive.

### What are the opening hours?

The Konponchudo gate is open 9:00 to 17:00, and the Kaisando (Ryodaishi) hall 9:00 to 16:00.

### Why is the main hall from Kawagoe?

The original Konponchudo of 1698 burned in the 1868 Battle of Ueno. In 1879 the temple replaced it by moving the Motochido of Kitain, a Tendai temple in Kawagoe, to the site of its subtemple Daijiin.

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Source: Kan'ei-ji — Japan Voyage