Seihaku-ji Temple

Seihaku-ji is a Rinzai temple in Sankasho, Yamanashi. It keeps the Zen temple layout well, with the main gate, bell-tower gate, Buddha Hall and main hall in a straight line from the south, and the National Treasure Buddha Hall stands at the center of the grounds. One of only two buildings in Yamanashi Prefecture designated National Treasures is this temple's Buddha hall.

The Buddha Hall is three bays by three bays, with a single story plus a mokoshi (skirt roof), a hip-and-gable roof covered with cypress bark, and it adopts the Zen style. It also has a mokoshi, so from the outside the roof looks double-layered. It was built in 1415, the date known from an ink inscription on a bracket set of the central core. It is rated a masterpiece of Zen architecture in the Kanto region, and was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1907 and a National Treasure in 1955. The exterior can be seen from the grounds, but entry inside is up to the temple, so it is best to check before you visit.

For its founding there are two theories, 1333 and 1351; Ashikaga Takauji is said to be the patron and Muso Soseki the founder. In the Muromachi period it was a branch temple of Kencho-ji, and in the early Edo period it became a branch temple of Myoshin-ji. A fire in 1682 burned almost every hall except the Buddha Hall, but the completion of the main gate in 1731 is said to have put the temple back in order. The Buddha Hall survives today as a National Treasure because it escaped that fire.

The kuri (the monastery kitchen and residence), rebuilt after the fire, is thought to date from around 1689 to 1693 and was designated an Important Cultural Property in 2005. It measures 17.5 m by 12.2 m and is roughly 270 years younger than the Buddha hall. It stands east of the main hall.

Along the approach, about 50 old plum trees line about 100 m of the path, and in spring it is loved as the plum approach. The "Saiko-bai" plum and the Gyoiko cherry that bears green flowers are also known. Nearby are Katsunuma Budo-no-Oka (about 3.4 km), Fuefuki River Fruit Park (about 4.0 km) and Erin-ji Temple (about 4.0 km), so a visit fits into a tour of the temples, shrines and orchards around Enzan and Katsunuma.