Tombs of Kikuchi Tamekuni and Shigetomo

The tombs of Kikuchi Tamekuni (1430–1488) and his son Shigetomo (1449–1493) in the cemetery of Gyokushoji Temple stand as a reminder of a time when the Kikuchi clan successfully shifted its focus from political to cultural objectives.

When Tamekuni was made leader at age 15 after the death of his father, the Kikuchi clan’s days of glory on the battlefield were long over, and even retaining its territory was proving challenging. Tamekuni chose to direct the clan’s resources toward supporting local culture and providing education for samurai and townspeople, encouraging their intellectual and spiritual pursuits.

At age 36, Tamekuni retired as clan leader in favor of Shigetomo and dedicated himself to studying the Blue Cliff Record, a Chinese Chan (Zen) Buddhist text that was particularly influential among Japanese Zen scholars at the time. He also built Gyokushoji and planned for his own burial at the temple after his death.

Shigetomo continued his father’s efforts to cultivate culture, and under his leadership Kikuchi became a regional hub for Buddhist and Confucian scholarship, where tea culture also flourished. Shigetomo built a hall dedicated to Confucius and commissioned images of the sage and his disciples to be placed in the building. A center of learning sprang up around this hall, and scholars traveled from as far away as Kyoto to discuss philosophy and religion in Kikuchi.

※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。）

菊池為邦・重朝の墓

　20代為邦は肥後・筑後の両守護を兼ねており、武芸に優れる反面、儒学や禅を修め、文芸にも秀でていました。37歳の若さで家督を重朝に譲り、隠居して館を寺とし碧厳寺と称しました。21代重朝は為邦の長男で、文正元年（1466）に肥後守となりました。続く戦乱の中で孔子を祀る聖堂を建て、家臣に学問を奨め、儒学を広め、一日一万句を詠む連歌の会を催し、文教の祖と仰がれています。

　二人の墓は20代為邦が享徳元年(1452)に菩提寺として建立したといわれる玉祥寺に所在します。