Yosenji Temple (QR code) 養泉寺 (QRコード)

Official explanation

Yosenji Temple is a branch of Kaneiji, a Tendai Buddhist temple in Ueno, Tokyo. It is the twenty-fifth stop on the Mogami pilgrimage, a circuit of 33 local temples dedicated to Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion. The year of Yosenji’s founding is unknown, but it was renovated in 1688, and reconstructed after burning down in 1895. The temple commands a sweeping view of nearby rice fields, with Mt. Gassan and Mt. Chokai towering in the distance.

The great haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644–1694) lodged at Yosenji Temple for seven nights during his 2,400-kilometer journey from Edo (present-day Tokyo) through northern Japan in 1689. The Suzushizuka, a stone monument inscribed with a brief biography of Basho and a poem he composed during his stay, stands on the temple grounds:

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suzushisa o Making the coolness

waga yado ni shite My abode, here I lie

nemaru nari Completely at ease.

(Translated by Donald Keene)

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.