Kikuchi Gozan: Tofukuji Temple

Tofukuji Temple looks out over the Tsuiji Ide irrigation canal and toward the Kikuchi River in the distance from a hillside perch just east of central Kikuchi. Its location holds special significance: during the medieval period, Tofukuji was the eastern temple in the Kikuchi Gozan (Five Temples), a group of Zen temples that enjoyed the protection of the Kikuchi clan in exchange for performing various administrative, supervisory, and religious duties. In the Gozan system, each temple was associated with a cardinal direction: north, south, east and west, with a central temple completing the group.

The Kikuchi Gozan were designated by Kikuchi Takemitsu (1319–1373), an influential reformer and skilled warrior under whom the clan reached the height of its power. When he selected these five temples for official status, Takemitsu was drawing on a tradition that began in China during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) and was brought to Japan by the Kamakura shogunate (1185–1333). The purpose of the Kamakura Gozan system was both to promote Zen, the school of Buddhism favored by the Kamakura shoguns, and to incorporate its temples into the government bureaucracy, thereby strengthening the shogunate’s control over the country and its people. The twin objectives of religious virtue and administrative benefits were also the motivations for Kikuchi Takemitsu’s introduction of the Gozan system.

Tofukuji was one of the Kikuchi clan’s ancestral temples, and its cemetery contains the tombs of several clan members. The temple’s principal object of worship is a statue of the Thousand-Armed Kannon, which is accompanied by statues of the fierce guardian deities Fudo Myo-o and Bishamonten. The three statues have been designated Important Cultural Properties of Kumamoto Prefecture.

※About the Kikuchi clan.（菊池一族とは）

※Other cultural property explanatory boards are also multilingual.（この他の文化財説明板も多言語化しています。）

輪足山東福寺

　東福寺は城山丘陵の中腹にあり、輪足山松林院と号する天台宗の勅願寺です。門前には加藤清正により開かれたと伝えられる築地井手が流れています。

　創建年は和銅２年（７０９）覚仏の開基説や天慶元年（９３８）澄慶の開基説など諸説あります。本尊は千手観音立像で、脇侍不動明王立像、毘沙門天立像と絹本箸色不動明王画像は、いずれも県指定重要文化財となっています。

　現在の本堂（間口３間×奥行５間）１５坪と庫裏（間口７間半×奥行３間）２２．５坪は、文政２年（１８１９）に再建されたもので、境内には元弘塔（１３３１～３４）、建武塔（１３３４～３８）、応永塔（１３９４～１４２８）、永享塔（１４２９～４１）、寛正塔（１４６０～６６）など１０基の塔石があります。

　『寺縁起』には天禄元年（９７０）に菊池一族とみられる名の政高なる人物が、郡司として寺に田地を寄進しています。『国郡一統志』は「延久４年（１０７２）菊池則隆再興」と記し、盛時には３６坊が建ち並んだとあります。