A Jodo sect temple in Hanasaki, Kazo, whose name Zenshoji (Temple of Good Radiance) evokes the light of Zen wisdom illuminating all beings. Rooted in the udon-producing farming culture of the Tone River basin, it has long served as a place of memorial rites and ancestral veneration. The orderly Soto Zen-style main hall and quarters embody the simple beauty of Buddhist monastic architecture.

Zenshoji is said to have been founded around 1700 (the 13th year of the Genroku era) as a Soto Zen Buddhist temple established to spread the teachings of Zen throughout the farming villages of Hanasaki along the lower Tone River basin. During the Edo period, the Soto sect actively promoted Buddhism …