Kensō-ji Temple, Buddhist temple in Moto-Azabu, Tokyo, Japan

Kensō-ji is a Sōtō Zen temple in Moto-Azabu, Minato ward, Tokyo. Its single-story main hall has a broad green copper roof supported by dark brown wooden posts and beams, with a white plaster ceiling under the eaves and carved beam ends. Behind a low wooden railing, dark-framed glass doors and windows open onto a deep porch. The hall stands on a raised stone base reached by three steps, and two square wooden posts on stacked stone plinths flank the steps, each holding a round wooden container near its top.

Nabeshima Katsushige founded the temple in 1635 to mourn his son Tadanao, who had died of smallpox. Because new temples were then banned in Edo, he bought the Takarawa Shōjū-ji and moved it to this site. The temple, named after Tadanao's posthumous name, became the Nabeshima family burial ground. Most of the compound burned in the 1945 air raids; the main hall was rebuilt in April 1972 and the bell tower in April 1975.

Kensō-ji belongs to the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism. Its name comes from the posthumous name of Nabeshima Tadanao, the son of the founding lord, and the temple serves as the Nabeshima family burial ground. Joint memorial services for the 22 officers of the February 26 Incident are held here every year on February 26 and July 12.

The temple is open to visitors and worshippers throughout the week and is best reached on foot from nearby streets in Moto-Azabu. When entering the worship areas, it is polite to keep quiet and to follow any signs about removing shoes before stepping inside.

The temple was founded by Nabeshima Katsushige, a feudal lord from Hizen province in present-day Kyushu, who carried his religious ties all the way to Edo, the city now known as Tokyo. This connection between a distant province and the shogun's capital shows how far religious networks reached during the Edo period.