Erin-ji Temple, located in Shioyama, Koshu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, is a famous Zen temple of the Rinzai sect Myoshin-ji school, dating back to its founding in 1330. Its founder is Muso Kokushi. Born in 1275, Muso Kokushi lived through the tumultuous periods from the late Kamakura period to the Northern and Southern Courts period and into the Muromachi period. Amidst this upheaval, he nurtured numerous outstanding disciples and was awarded the title of Kokushi by seven emperors during his lifetime and posthumously, making him a representative Zen monk of his era.
Kokushi also excelled as a waka poet and left his name in history as a Chinese poet, but beyond that, he was particularly outstanding as a landscape gardener. He created several Zen gardens throughout Japan, including Kyoto's Saiho-ji Temple (Koke-dera), which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Tenryu-ji Temple, establishing the aesthetic standards for Zen art and significantly influencing the formation and development of subsequent Japanese culture.
Since its founding, Erin-ji Temple has had Muso Kokushi's disciples successively serve as chief priests under imperial decree, and while preserving the Zen gardens created by Kokushi, they have placed high cultural education at the center of their missionary activities.
This tradition was inherited by the Sengoku period warrior Takeda Shingen, who further elevated the name of Erin-ji Temple. Takeda Shingen invited Kaikawa Kokushi of the Myoshin-ji school, one of the foremost Zen monks of his time, from Mino and designated Erin-ji Temple as his family temple. Thus, under Takeda Shingen and Kaikawa Kokushi, Erin-ji Temple entered a golden age, producing many excellent Zen monks.
Takeda Shingen, lauded as the strongest warrior of the Sengoku period, was not only an exceptional general but also a man of profound culture. He enjoyed waka poetry, composed Chinese poems, was skilled in the tea ceremony, devoted himself to Zen and practiced zazen, and invited eminent Zen monks for guidance. He possessed high education and deep religious sensitivity, making him a first-class cultural figure.
After Shingen's death, the Takeda clan was destroyed, and Erin-ji Temple was once burned down during the war. However, it was restored under the patronage of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who quelled the chaos of the Sengoku period and unified the country. Following the tradition since its founding, Erin-ji Temple, even during this restoration process, has consistently had a lineage of top-tier Zen monks serving as chief priests, who were not only religious leaders but also possessed advanced cultural and artistic knowledge.
Even today, the chief priest of Erin-ji Temple is a Roshi, a monk recognized as an exceptional being through many years of training. In this way, Erin-ji Temple continues to disseminate culture through zazen, tea ceremonies, and terakoya education, while protecting numerous valuable cultural properties, including the Erin-ji Garden, created by Muso Kokushi himself.
