People were relaxing on benches placed in the spacious Kita-in Temple grounds

People relaxing in the precincts of Kita-in Temple

The precincts of Kita-in Temple, known as "Daishi-sama" in Kawagoe, are large. In addition to Kita-in Temple, there used to be Naka-in and Minami-in Temple, which were larger than today's Kita-in Temple, which is to be expected of a Buddhist temple that was so well patronized by the Tokugawa family.

Benches are placed here and there on the temple grounds, where couples and families are relaxing. The temple looks like a park. However, the temple's main attraction is not its spacious grounds. The highlight of Kita-in Temple is the precious cultural assets scattered throughout the temple grounds. One of them is the modest gate seen beyond the benches, which was built in 1632 and is the oldest structure at Kita-in Temple.

While the historic buildings such as Jigen-do, Jie-do, and Taho-to are interesting, it is interesting to note that several buildings from Edo Castle were relocated here to Kawagoe after the Great Kawagoe Fire of 1638 that destroyed most of the temple buildings. They remain today.

The Kyakuden, Shoin, and Kori in the building next to Jiedo were originally part of the Edo Castle. The Kyakuden is particularly interesting because it contains a room said to be the birth room of Tokugawa Iemitsu. Almost no structures are remaining from the Edo period in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, which used to be Edo Castle, so these buildings must have been lost somewhere in history if they had not been relocated. When you think about it, it is really hard to know what influences things in the long history.

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