Kairin-ji, Buddhist temple in Sakura, Japan

Kairin-ji is a Jishū (Ji-shū) Buddhist temple in the Kairinji-chō district of Sakura, Chiba Prefecture. Its precinct holds a group of medieval stone towers marking the graves of five Chiba clan heads — Chiba Masatane, Toshitane, Chikatane, Tanetomi and Kunitane — now within the grounds of the adjacent Sakura City Hall and designated a city historic site. A Kumano Gongen shrine stands on the grounds, as at Jishū temples nationwide.

According to temple tradition, Chiba Tsunetane's men drew a golden Amida statue from the sea in 1179, and in 1192 a temple was founded at Makuhari to house it as the Honzon. During the Chiba clan's internal conflicts the temple moved from Makuhari via Shisui, and Chiba Chikatane relocated it to its present site in Sakura. It was a powerful branch temple of Taima Muryoko-ji.

The temple belongs to the Ji-shū school, and its name gave the district its name, Kairinji-machi. The grounds hold the graves of five Chiba clan lords, including Chiba Masatane, whose letter appointing a head priest of Muryōkō-ji survives at that temple. A Kumano Gongen shrine stands on the grounds, a deity worshipped by Ippen and found at Ji-shū temples nationwide.

Kairin-ji is about a 10-minute walk from Keisei-Sakura Station on the Keisei Main Line, or about 20 minutes on foot from Sakura Station on the JR Sobu and Narita lines. The Chiba family graves stand in the corner of the grounds adjoining Sakura City Hall.

In the temple grounds stand the graves of five Chiba clan heads, including Chiba Masatane and Chiba Chikatane; the site is now a corner of the adjacent Sakura City Hall grounds and is a city-designated historic site. A document Masatane sent from this temple to the head priest of Muryoko-ji survives at that parent temple.