Tentaku-ji, Buddhist temple in Kai, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan

Tentaku-ji is a Sōtō Zen temple in Kamezawa, Kai, Yamanashi Prefecture, standing on the left bank of the Kamezawa River at the northern edge of the Kōfu Basin. Its mountain name is Kyokōzan and its principal image is a Shaka Nyorai. The grounds hold a stone six-Jizō pillar 234 cm tall, dated by inscription to 12 April 1426.

Tentaku-ji began as a thatched hermitage built by Takagake Sōshun in 1472. In 1475 the Takeda retainer Iitomi Toramasa, lord of Kamezawa, invited Sōshun and named the temple Tentaku-ji. It was restored under the Takeda by Yamagata Masamitsu, and in 1583 the Tokugawa confirmed its lands.

The temple's name comes from its founder, the Zen monk Takagaku Sōshun, who built a hermitage here in 1472; in 1475 the Kai lord Obu Torimasa invited him and the temple took the name Tentaku-ji. It belongs to the Sōtō school, its mountain name is Kyokōzan, and its main image is Shakyamuni. In the grounds stands a stone Rokujizō pillar 234 cm tall, dated 12 April 1426 and designated a Yamanashi Prefecture cultural property.

Tentaku-ji stands in the Kamezawa district of Kai, on the left bank of the Kamezawa River where it drains the northern rim of the Kōfu Basin. The temple lies at the foot of the slopes, so the approach is uphill from the surrounding settlement. Look for the 234 cm stone six-Jizō pillar in the grounds, dated by inscription to 12 April 1426.

In the grounds stands a rokujizō-dō, a stone pillar carved with six Jizō figures, 234 cm tall and dated by inscription to 12 April 1426 (Ōei 33). It is a Yamanashi Prefecture-designated cultural property, older than the temple's 1472 founding.