Meigetsu-in Temple, Buddhist temple in Yamanouchi, Kamakura, Japan
Meigetsu-in is a Rinzai Zen temple in the Yamanouchi district of Kamakura, Japan. Its single-story wooden main hall has a broad hipped roof of gray tiles and a facade of white plaster above sliding lattice panels. A wooden plaque with two characters, "丈方", hangs above the entrance. A round window in a plain wall is divided by a grid of thin wooden bars.
Uesugi Norikata, a Kanto deputy of the Yamanouchi Uesugi, founded the temple with Misshitsu Shugon as its first abbot; Norikata died in 1394, so it predates that year. It was a sub-temple of Zenko-ji, a Rinzai temple ranked among the Kanto Jissetsu, which was dissolved around the start of the Meiji era, leaving Meigetsu-in as the sole survivor.
The round window in the main hall is called the Window of Enlightenment; the view through it frames the garden like a painting. The temple's name comes from Uesugi Norikata's posthumous name, Meigetsu. Hydrangeas were planted after World War II as low-maintenance hedges along the approach path, and the temple is now known as the Hydrangea Temple.
The temple is about a ten-minute walk from Kita-Kamakura Station, following signs on the left side of the tracks toward Kamakura, then turning onto a side street. The rear garden of the main hall is normally closed and opens only during the iris season and the autumn foliage period.
Over 2,500 hydrangeas bloom here during the rainy season and fill the pathways with different shades of blue. Many travelers visit specifically in June when the plants reach full flower.
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