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(also spelled Kan'eiji or Kaneiji) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1625 during the Kan'ei era by Tenkai, in an attempt to emulate the powerful religious center Enryaku-ji, in Kyoto. The main object of worship is .〔Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei〕 It was named in a reference both to the Enryaku-ji's location atop Mount Hiei (''Tōeizan'' means "Mount Heiei of the East"), and also after the era during which it was erected, like Enryaku-ji (named after the Enryaku year period).〔Henry D. Smith, "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo", Braziller, 1986; plate 11 commentary〕 Because it was one of the two Tokugawa ''bodaiji'' (funeral temple; the other was Zōjō-ji) and because it was destroyed in the closing days of the war that put an end to the Tokugawa shogunate, it is inextricably linked to the Tokugawa shoguns. Once a great complex, it used to occupy the entire heights north and east of Shinobazu Pond and the plains where Ueno Station now stands.〔Seidensticker (1991:117)〕 It had immense wealth, power and prestige, and it once consisted of over 30 buildings. Of the 15 Tokugawa shōguns, six are buried here.〔 Many temple structures were destroyed in the great Meireki fire of 1657.〔(Kaneiji ). Columbia University. Accessed June 13, 2008.〕 A new hall was constructed inside the enclosure of Kan'ei-ji in 1698.〔Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ( ''Annales des empereurs du Japon,'' p. 415. )〕 The temple and its numerous annexes were almost completely destroyed during the Boshin War's Battle of Ueno and never restored.〔 Much of the site where it once stood was confiscated and is now occupied by Ueno Park.〔 What is today the temple's main hall was taken from Kita-in in Kawagoe (Saitama Prefecture) and transferred to the site of a former Kan'ei-ji subtemple. Kan'ei-ji's five-story pagoda (photo above) and the Ueno Tōshō-gū shrine were amongst the gems of the old temple enclosure. Both stand undisturbed by the passage of years since the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Shinobazu Pond itself and the Bentendō Temple which stands on its island used to be an integral part of Kan'ei-ji. Tenkai, liking Lake Biwa, had Benten Island built in imitation of Chikubushima, and then the Bentendō on it.〔Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu/Meiji Period, (Shinobazu Pond ), accessed on November 16, 2008〕 At the time the island was accessible only by boat, but later a stone bridge was added on the east, making it possible to walk to it.〔 The Bentendō Temple was destroyed during World War II, and the present one is a reconstruction.〔 == History == Tenkai wanted to create a powerful religious center and, to achieve that, he built Kan'ei-ji imitating Enryaku-ji.〔 The temple was therefore erected north-east of Edo Castle to ward off evil spirits that were believed to come from that unlucky direction.〔 Tenkai's project enjoyed from the beginning the shogunate support, so much so that Tokugawa Hidetada in 1622 donated the land on which it was built.〔 At the time, on that land there were the suburban residences of three ''daimyos'', (Tōdō Takatora of the Tsu domain, Tsugaru Nobuhira of the Hirosaki domain and Hori Naoyori of the Murakami domain), but the land was expropriated and donated to Tenkai for the temple.〔 He was also given 50 thousand silver Ryō and a building as a contribution.〔 The chief abbot's residence, the ''Honbō'', was built in 1625, which is considered the year of foundation of the temple. After that, several daimyos contributed with the construction of other buildings.〔 The main hall, called as in Enryaku-ji's case ''Konponchūdō'', was finished only in 1697.〔 In 1643, after Tenkai's death, disciple Kōkai took his place. His successor was Emperor Go-Mizunoo's third son Shuchōho Shinnō.〔 From then on until the end of the shogunate, Kan'ei-ji's chief abbots were chosen among the Emperor's children or favorite nephews and called with the honorific .〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kan'ei-ji」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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