Gansen-ji, Buddhist temple in Kaizuka, Japan

Gansen-ji is a Jodo Shinshu temple in Kaizuka whose main hall was rebuilt in 1663 and repaired from 2004 to 2011. Its grounds hold a drum hall of 1719, a storehouse of 1688, a well pavilion of 1818 and a front gate rebuilt in 1679. A bell tower moved here in 1948 from Shosho-ji in Mori hangs a bronze bell cast in 1224.

Tradition traces the temple to a hermitage built by Gyoki, and its standing Amida statue is attributed to him. According to the 1587 Kaizuka jinai kihonjo, Rennyo stayed at the Gyoki site during the Onin era (1467-1469). The direct origin is Kaizuka-bo, founded in 1550 by Shonyo; in 1583 Kennyo made it his headquarters, Kaizuka Hongan-ji, for about two years.

The temple's name, Gansen-ji, was granted in 1607 by Junnyo of Nishi Hongan-ji. Through the Edo period it belonged to both the East and West Hongan-ji branches, and it keeps painted portraits of the successive heads of both. Its large Hōonkō memorial service drew so many worshippers that the Kishiwada domain warned its people against attending.

Gansen-ji is a five-minute walk from Kaizuka Station on the Nankai Main Line and the Mizuma Railway Mizuma Line. The grounds are entered through the front gate, rebuilt in 1679, with the main hall and bell tower nearby. The bell tower was moved here in 1948 from Shōshō-ji in Mori, Kaizuka, after the original burned in the 1945 air raid.

The temple's name, Gansen-ji, was granted in 1607 by Junnyo of Nishi Hongan-ji; it does not refer to a rock. The bell tower now standing was moved here in 1948 from Shōshō-ji in Mori, Kaizuka, after the original was destroyed by fire in the air raid of 10 July 1945. Its bronze bell dates from 1224.