Kōden-ji, Buddhist temple in Saga, Japan

Kōden-ji is a Sōtō Zen temple in Saga whose mountain name is Enichizan. Its grounds hold the Shaka Hall, an all-zelkova structure coated in raw lacquer that houses a Shakyamuni triad installed in 1655 by Nabeshima Katsushige for his parents Naoshige and Yōtai-in. The cemetery is divided between the Ryūzōji tombs at the front and east and the Nabeshima tombs to the west.

Founded in 1552 by Nabeshima Kiyofusa, the temple served as a family sanctuary for the influential Ryūzōji and Nabeshima clans within the Saga Domain. This connection to local nobility shaped its growth and role throughout the centuries.

The temple's name appears in the Hagakure: its sixth book of recorded sayings describes how the Great Nehan painting was made at the wish of Nabeshima Tsunashige, third lord of Saga. The temple also holds the graves of the Meiji-era statesman Soejima Taneomi and his brother Edakichi Shinyō. The manga artist Hari Sunao, who drew caricatures for impersonation shows, was born here and once served as its priest.

Kōden-ji stands in the Saga plain, and its grounds hold the Ryūzōji graves on the front and east sides and the Nabeshima graves on the west. The Great Nehan painting is too large to show whole inside the temple, so only part of it is displayed during limited annual openings; the first full public viewing after restoration was held at the Kyushu National Museum. The roughly 400-year-old plum, called Reitokuju-bai, was a gift from Tamabayashi-ji in Kasuga to Nabeshima Naoshige.

The Great Nehanzu, a 1706 painting of the reclining Buddha, measures 1281.4 by 520.5 cm on the paper itself, making it one of Japan's largest. It was commissioned by the third Saga lord Nabeshima Tsunashige and closely copies the Nehanzu at Tōfuku-ji, though larger. After about two years of restoration at the Kyushu National Museum, it is shown only in part inside the temple.