Shofukuji

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.

It is more serene than the other temples in Fukuoka, especially more serene than Kushida Shrine, that place was absolutely crowded. Saw a citrus (I will not call it orange because I might be wrong.) tree and took some pictures. Near the river we saw train.

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

Such a beautiful temple! The trees were fanominal! The mosquitoes were a pain,if you stood in one place for a few seconds, they'd get you good.

Not exactly too much to see. It is very quiet and peaceful. Free admission. No dogs allowed, but there were a lot of cats wandering around when I visited. Ok to swing by if you happened to be around the area. Skip it if your schedule is packed.