Shofukuji

This temple is the place of birth of Zen Buddhism in Japan. It was founded in 1195 and is enlightening many previous visit of more famous temples in Kyoto! I would go to Kyushu just for this visit ! Great setting , preempting a lot of what we believe we understand (or not) of zen , wabisabi and the rest…

Visited on October 12, 2025. Free admission. Relatively quiet, with only a few visitors, be it tourists or locals. A section was closed off to visitors. Serves as a quick tourist destination or for a quiet zen moment. Make sure to observe the rope connecting the memorial pillar and the three Buddhas.

Find your peace here! This temple is in the middle of a beautiful park and near Gion subway station. It’s well maintained and simply beautiful. It was impressively empty with a few locals there.

a large and tranquil temple complex and is believed to be the first Zen temple in Japan. a couple of magnificent wooden temples / buildings around, but all are not open to the public. after visiting the busy Tochoji Temple, we enjoyed the moment of quietness and calmness, and we wandered into the well-maintained garden with shady trees.

Shofukuji Temple is probably the earliest or the oldest Zen Sect Temple in Japan, and it was built in 1195, although its current Sanmon Gate was built in 1911. It worships Triad Buddhas for the Buddha of the Past, of the Present [which is Shakyamuni Buddha], and of the Future as main deities, and for Japanese Zen Buddhism, Three Buddhas are Shaka, Amida, and Miroku. While the Temple seems to be intended to preserve its original building structures, garden, ponds, and others as much as possible, the Temple does show signs of aging and damage in the Temple yard/site, especially for the area around the pond. Temple is free of charge for entrance, though there is NO bathroom or toilet inside the Temple. The Temple is in close walking distance from Tochoji Temple, but the road signs for the Shofukuji Temples are NOT well marked or posted for every major road which can be connected to the Temple.

Peaceful zen, Take the time to stroll through the temple and garden with a grateful mindset. Great time to self reflect and seek oneself through the enlightenment.

it is the oldest zen temple in Japan. we spent quite sometime here because the temple compound was so beautiful and serene. it had a conservative history though, connected to statesmen complicit in the WW II.

Plenty of harmless lazy but healthy looking cats relaxing on front entrance to the main temple building. Grounds are very nice, spacious and tranquil. Reasonably well kept up and worth a visit. A small pond and bridge for photos. Temple building itself was not accessible but observable from all over the inside grounds. Recommended

This temple was one of the stops on our walking tour that we took as part of a City unscripted private tour with a Guide during our cruise port stop This particular area of the grounds included the monuments built to buried Lords and their retainers "The second, third, and eighth lords of the Fukuoka Domain, named Tadayuki, Mitsuyuki, and Harutaka re-spectively, are buried at the Cemetery of the Kuroda Clan. They were devout followers of Shingon Buddhism, and 3 large granite five-ringed towers known as gorinto (each approx. 5.4m to 5.8m tall including the foundation stones) are erected on this site as their gravestones. Also in front of Tadayuki's gravestone stand the graves of 5 retainers who took their own lives after his death. The cemetery has been retained in its original state from when the three lords were interred there, and is a valuable site in preserving the history of the Fukuoka Domain. Other lords of the Fukuoka Domain, such as the founder of the domain Josui (Kanbei) and the first lord Kuroda Nagamasa, have graves on the north side of their family temple, Sofukuji Temple of the Rinzai School (Chiyo 4-chome, Hakata-ku), as well as in Tokyo." Entrance is free but it is expected that everyone be quiet and respectful.