Terenji Temple

The temple is a Jodo Shinshu Honganji temple on Mount Ryuto. It used to be called Jorin-ji and was a Soto Zen sect Zen temple. It was a place of learning for the lord of Kimura Castle, Takehara Kobayakawa. In 1603, Sogu entered the temple and converted to Shinshu, becoming a Nishi Honganji sect temple. As the Yori Shunsui school and others studied here, many ancient documents are preserved, including Suga Chazan and the Yori school's brushes and inks. It has a main hall, sutra repository, bell tower gate, and kuri, as well as a famous garden called "Ko Gion." The temple grounds also contain the graves of the Yori Shunsui family, Shioya Shishi, Ishii Toyosu, Kimura Yoshitaka, and Hashimoto Donsai, an early experimenter of the electric light. The temple's "Koryo bell" is a national important cultural property with a total height of 68.3 cm, a diameter of 40 cm, and a rim thickness of 3 cm. It is said to have been donated by the Kobayakawa family as part of trade with China, and is the third oldest Goryeo bell in Japan, with the date 963 engraved on it.