- Tōfuku-ji
nihongo|Tōfuku-ji|東福寺 is a
Buddhist temple in Higashiyama-ku inKyoto city, led by head abbotKeido Fukushima .The Tōfuku-ji temple was established in 1236 AD by the
Chancellor Kujō Michiie , who designated the founding priest as nihongo|Enni |円爾 (1201–1280) in 1243 AD. It is a part of theRinzai school, one of the two major JapaneseZen sects. It is considered to be one of the five major Zen temples in Kyoto city. Tōfuku-ji was intended to compete with theTōdai-ji andKōfuku-ji temples in Nara, and as such its name is a combination of characters from both of those temples.Tōfuku-ji's nihongo|main gate|三門|sammon is noteworthy as the oldest Zen main gate in all
Japan .Currently, the Tōfuku-ji complex includes 24 subtemples, though in the past the number has been as high as 53.
The temple features a large number of
Japanese Maple trees, and is most crowded during the autumn season when people flock to see the autumn foliage. It is traditional to view the leaves from theTsūten-kyō bridge.ee also
*
Zen
*Wuzhun Shifan
*List of Buddhist temples References
Pg. 147-148. Lonely Planet: Kyoto. Lonely Planet Publications. 2001.
Pg. 434-437. The Phenomenon of Life: Nature of Order, Book 1.
Christopher Alexander . 2004.External links
* [http://www.tofukuji.jp Official Website]
* [http://zen.rinnou.net/head_temples/05tofuku.html Informations at Rinnou.net]
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