Shōnen-ji, Ji-shū Buddhist temple in Sakai, Fukui Prefecture, Japan

Shōnen-ji is a Ji-shū Buddhist temple in Sakai, Fukui Prefecture, with the mountain name Chōrinzan and the cloister name Ōjō-in. Its grounds hold the tomb of Nitta Yoshida and a stone monument inscribed with a haiku by Matsuo Bashō.

According to a Muromachi-period origin account, the temple was founded in 721 by the monk Taichō on the order of Empress Genshō, and in 1290 the monk Taa Shinkyō converted it to the Ji-shū school. The Taiheiki records that after Nitta Yoshisada died in 1338 at Tōmyōji-no-higashinawate in Fujishima, Echizen, his remains were carried by Ji-shū followers to the Ōjō-in, identified with this temple. In the Muromachi period it became a prayer temple for Emperor Go-Hanazono and shoguns Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Yoshimasa, later a incense-offering temple of the Tokugawa shoguns; after the Meiji government's return of domains it lost its patrons and income, but was rebuilt in 1914 with help from Takao Genshi, abbot of Kaitoku-ji in Onomichi, and in 1937 held the 600th memorial for Nitta.

Shōnen-ji belongs to the Ji-shū school, which traces its practice to Ippen and his disciple Taa Shinkyō, who converted the temple to this school in 1290. The successive head priests take the name "Son'a". In the grounds stands a stone monument inscribed with Matsuo Bashō's verse "Tsuki sabi yo Akechi ga tsuma no hanashi semu", alluding to Akechi Mitsuhide's stay at the temple gate.

Shōnen-ji stands in Sakai, Fukui Prefecture, not Osaka. The temple is reached from the area around Mikuni Port, the old harbour that linked the temple's branch temple Kōmyō-in to trade across the Sea of Japan. Look for the grave of Nitta Yoshitada within the grounds and the haiku stone inscribed with Bashō's verse.

The temple's successive head priests have all borne the name "Sono-a", a hereditary title passed down through the generations. The temple also keeps a hanging bell and a bell gate, and a stone monument inscribed with a haiku by Matsuo Bashō stands within the grounds.