日本寺, Buddhist temple in Tako, Japan

Nihonji is a Nichiren-shū head temple in Tako, Chiba Prefecture, with the mountain name Shōtōzan. Its main hall holds the "alternating portraits" (mitagai no miei), said to be images of Nichiren and Tomiki Jōnin carved by each other. The grounds include a thatched-gable mountain gate and a two-storey bell tower, both from the Azuchi-Momoyama to early Edo period.

In 1319, Nichiren-shū monk Nichiyū of Hokekyō-ji received land from Chiba Tanetsuna and founded Tōfuku-ji on this site. It was renamed Shōtōzan Nihonji in 1591. From 1599 to 1875 the Nakamura Danrin, a Nichiren-shū seminary, trained some 100,000 monks here and ranked with the Konishi and Iidaka seminaries as one of the three great Kanto seminaries.

The temple is known as the Ajisai-dera, or Hydrangea Temple, for the 8,000 hydrangea plants set along the approach and around the graves of former head priests. In 2013 a hydrangea garden opened in the temple woods, with more than 50 uncommon varieties planted beside a walking path. The hon-dō holds the Mitsugai no Miei, portraits said to have been carved by Nichiren and his follower Tomiki Jōnin from one another.

Nihonji lies in Tako, Chiba Prefecture, and is reached by getting off at the Minaminaka bus stop on the JR Bus Kanto Tako Main Line between Narita and Yokaichiba, then walking about three minutes. The Narita Airport shuttle bus stops at Michi-no-Eki Tako, roughly twenty minutes on foot. The approach and the grounds around the successive head priests' graves are planted with 8,000 hydrangea plants.

The temple's main hall holds the "alternating portraits" (mitagai no miei), said to be images of Nichiren and his disciple Tomiki Jōnin carved by each of the other. The temple grounds and the cemetery of successive head priests are planted with 8,000 hydrangea shrubs, and a hydrangea garden opened in 2013 grows more than 50 rare varieties along its paths.