Kankō-ji, Buddhist temple in Minamiuonuma, Japan
Kankō-ji is a Rinzai-shū Engaku-ji-ha temple in Ueno, Minamiuonuma, Niigata Prefecture, founded in 1410 by Kakun Soden, son of Uesugi Noriaki, and originally named Kankō-an. It enshrines Shakyamuni as its principal image. The temple moved to its present site during the Kanbun era (1661–1673), when it took the name Kankō-ji.
Founded in 1410 by Kakun Soden, son of Uesugi Noriaki, the temple began as Kankō-an and was later renamed Kankō-ji. It was destroyed by fire in 1512, 1578, 1594 and 1629, and in 1600 it moved to Yonezawa when Uesugi Kagekatsu was transferred there. During the Kanbun era it relocated to its present site in Ueno, Minamiuonuma.
The temple's name is tied to a local saying: "Did you tread the soil of Undō-an, did you lick the miso of Kankō-ji?" During the 1578 Otate no Ran, abbot Uten Zekan had monks bury the 600-volume Daihannya-kyō sutra donated by the Uesugi in miso barrels, saving it from fire; the phrase comes from that act.
Kankō-ji stands in Ueno, Minamiuonuma, about five minutes by car from the Shiozawa-Ishiuchi interchange on the Kan-Etsu expressway and about ten minutes by car from Echigo-Yuzawa station on the Jōetsu Shinkansen. From JR Ishiuchi station on the Jōetsu line it is roughly a 20-minute walk. A car park is available on site.
During the 1578 Otate no Ran, abbot Uten Zekan had monks bury the 600-volume Daihannya-kyo sutra donated by the Uesugi clan inside miso barrels to save it from fire. The temple's miso became so noted that a local saying asked whether one had trodden the soil of Undo-an or tasted Kanko-ji's miso.
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