Gōshō-ji, Buddhist temple in Takarazuka, Japan.
Gōshō-ji is a Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist temple in the Kohama district of Takarazuka, also known as Kohama-gobō. Its main hall was built in the late Edo period, and the temple stands at the centre of a former temple town that grew around it. The grounds are a short walk from Mefu-Jinja and Kiyoshikojin stations on the Hankyu Takarazuka Line.
The temple was founded during the Meiō era (1492–1501) by Zenshū, a descendant of the third head of Hongan-ji, Kakunyo, who opened Kohama-no-shō and built Gōshō-ji there. In 1595 Fukushima Masanori burned the temple and its temple town on Toyotomi Hideyoshi's orders, because it was the home of Kame-hime, a concubine of Hidetsugu. In the Edo period Kohama revived as a post town on the Arima Kaidō, and in the Meiji period the temple received the rank of bekkaku from the Jōdo Shinshū Hongan-ji sect.
The temple is also called Kohama-gobō, after the Kohama district that grew up around it as a temple town. Toyotomi Hideyoshi is said to have stayed here with Sen no Rikyū on the way to Arima Onsen and prepared tea. Hidetsugu's wife Kame-hime, daughter of the temple's priest, came from this house.
The temple is easiest to reach using the Hankyu Takarazuka Line, exiting at Mefu-Jinja Station. Signs along the way guide you to the temple grounds from the station.
The temple was once known as Kohama-gobō and grew into a temple town along a major trade road. This route linked important cities and made the place a busy stopping point for travelers and merchants passing through.
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