Tesshin-ji Temple was opened in 1665 by Ikeda Masanao, a daimyo (feudal lord) in the Fukumoto Domain. It is said that Masanao gave the temple the name Tesshin-ji (Jigo) and Ikkan-san (Sango, the honorific mountain name) after Daiunin-den Ikkan Tesshin Daikoji, the posthumous Buddhist name given to his father, Teruzumi (the fourth son of Ikeda Terumasa). The main hall of Tesshin-ji Temple is a valuable historic building with a thatched hip-and-gable roof. In addition, the six-foot-wide thatched roof Yakui-mon (specific type of gate) construction of the temple gate make it an important architectural property. Engravings of “Sixth month of Summer Tenpo 9” on the decorative metal fittings used on the doors of the gate suggest that the gate was made in the year 1838. The gate was designated a prefectural cultural property in March 2007.
Matsudaira Teruzumi (formerly Ikeda Teruzumi, daimyo of the Shiso Yamazaki domain), Masanao’s father, was stripped of rank and exiled to Tottori in 1640 due to strife within his family. Masanao, however, was forgiven for his family’s wrongdoing and eventually brought his house back up to daimyo status as the Fukumoto Clan. Masanao was given the surname Matsudaira due to his being a legitimate heir to Tokugawa Ieyasu while being an outsider. The temple’s graveyard includes stone grave markers for eight generations of daimyo spanning roughly 210 years from 1663 to the end of the feudal domain system in 1871. The markers begin on the easternmost side with Matsudaira Masanao, followed by Masatake, Masamori, Yoshimochi, and Yoshishige, and then in the front row by Yoshinaga, Yoshimichi, and Norimasu, who would be given back the original surname of Ikeda under the new government following the Meiji Restoration. The site was designated a municipal cultural property in May 2003.
Spot Name | Tesshin-ji Temple |
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Address | 402 Fukumoto, Kamikawa Town |
Tel | +81-790-32-0161 |
URL | https://www.kamikawa-navi.jp/guide/history/945 |