Erinji Temple

Founded by priest Muso Kokushi, this temple is the family temple of Takeda Shingen. In the Myouden Hall, a seated statue of Fudo Myoo, known as Takeda Fudo, and two children are enshrined.

The temple was founded in 1330 in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) by Soseki Muso, and was devastated during the Onin War (1467-1477), a civil war that lasted 11 years, but was restored after being designated as a family temple of the Kai Takeda clan.

Takeda Shingen left Kofu in 1572 in response to Ashikaga Yoshiaki’s call for an order to defeat Oda Nobunaga.
He won a decisive battle against Tokugawa Ieyasu at Mikawa, but died of illness during the march in 1573, and his army retreated to Kai.

In 1582, the Oda-Tokugawa allied forces invaded the Takeda domain (conquest of Koshu), and the Takeda clan was destroyed.

After the fall of the Takeda clan, the Oda clan requested the surrender of Jiro Sasaki (Yoshisada Rokkaku), a general who had fled to Erinji Temple, but the temple refused, and Erinji Temple was burned to the ground.
The Zen monk Kaigawa Shaoki’s words at this time are known as the chorus of his resignation.
Anzen nonessential sansui dasu kaeru shin toshin kattei jikiryoso
If you do not necessarily follow the path of the mountains and water, but rather, if you break your mind, the fire will naturally become cooler.
(To do zazen calmly, you do not need quiet nature, such as mountains or rivers. (If you empty your mind and heart, even fire will feel cool.)

After Oda Nobunaga was defeated in the Honnoji Incident, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who took over Kai, rebuilt Erinji Temple.

The adjoining Treasure House exhibits a helmet of Takeda Shingen, a military banner of Sun Tzu, famous for “Fu-Rin-Kazan,” arts and crafts, antique paintings, armors and armors, and many old documents.