Saikō-ji, Buddhist temple in Fukuoka, Japan.
Saikō-ji is a Jōdo Shinshū Honganji-ha temple in Sawara Ward, Fukuoka, with the mountain name Kofukuzan. Its bell tower houses a national treasure: a bronze bell cast in 839, 136.3 cm tall with a 77.5 cm mouth, bearing a cast inscription and arabesque bands. The bell's dragon-shaped hanger, set over layered lotus petals, is unlike any other.
Saikō-ji's bronze bell was cast in 839, as its cast inscription states, making it the fifth-oldest Japanese temple bell with a datable date. It was made for Kinshō-ji in Kamobe, Hōki Province (now Nanbu, Tottori Prefecture). By around 1653 it hung at Izumo Taisha, then at two Shimane temples until 1889, and reached Saikō-ji in 1897.
Saikō-ji belongs to the Jōdo Shinshū Honganji-ha school of Pure Land Buddhism, and its mountain name is Kofukusan. The temple's best-known possession is a bronze bell cast in 839, designated a National Treasure; it was made for Kaneyama-ji in Hōki Province (now Kamo, Nanbu, Tottori Prefecture).
Saikō-ji lies in Fukuoka's Sawara ward; from Hakata Station or Tenjin take Nishi-Nippon bus line 3 or 17 (line 17 also runs from Hakata) and get off at the Uchino stop, then walk about five minutes. The temple's bell, a National Treasure, is the reason most visitors come.
The temple's bronze bell, cast in 839, is a National Treasure. Its inscription shows it was made for Kaneyoshi-ji in Hōki Province (now Nanbu, Tottori), and it later hung at Izumo Taisha before reaching Saikō-ji in 1897. Its dragon-shaped hanger, set over layered lotus petals, is a design found on no other bell.
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