Saifuku-ji, Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan

Saifuku-ji is a Buddhist temple in Nara featuring traditional Japanese architecture with carefully arranged gardens and stone lanterns throughout its grounds. The buildings display the classic layout of halls and courtyards that is typical for temples of this school.

According to temple tradition, the monk Ennin founded Saifuku-ji during the Jōgan era (859–876), though the details are unclear. It belonged to the Tendai school before becoming a Jōdo (Pure Land) temple. In 1604 the monk Benyo Myōyū restored it. Records such as the Heijō Bōmokukō and Yamato Meisho Zue note that Nara-Saka village also held Zenshō-ji and a Yakushi hall, and the images now kept at Saifuku-ji are said to come from Zenshō-ji.

Saifuku-ji belongs to the Jodo (Pure Land) school of Buddhism and was revived there in 1604 by the monk Benyo Myo. The temple holds six Heian-period wooden statues designated Important Cultural Properties, including the lacquered Amida standing image that serves as principal image; the other five, among them Shaka, Yakushi and Fudo, are kept in the storehouse. A stone stele outside the south side of the gate bears the nembutsu invocation and the date 1702.

Saifuku-ji is reached by Nara Kotsu bus from JR Nara Station or Kintetsu Nara Station, getting off at the Narasaka bus stop. The temple grounds are compact, with the main hall, Yakushi hall, Jizo hall and bell tower close together. The temple is in the Narasaka-cho district, north of central Nara.

The temple's main hall enshrines an Amida Buddha statue from the late Heian period, and five other Heian-period statues are kept in the storehouse. According to the Yamato Meisho Zue, these statues came from Zensho-ji, a temple that once stood a few hundred meters west of Saifuku-ji.