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Reiganji the Obscure, but Significant Temple in Koto City

If you are interested in a short stroll down one of Tokyo’s memory lanes then if you are in Shirakawa area visiting Kiyosumi garden or the Fukagawa Edo Museum look up Reiganji temple. It was built in 1758 after the great fire of Meireki (Meireki was the sitting emperor and so the era was named after him), which burnt down a very young Edo city in 1757. This place was one of the seven main crematoria in old Edo and the bodaiji, the funerary temple for saying of prayers for the dead, for several daimyo families. It is also the resting place of Matsudaira Sadanobu, a high ranking daimyo from Shirakawa who wrote the Kansei reform for Ienari Tokugawa, the eleventh Tokugawa shogun, which meant to correct Japan’s faltering economy through frugality. Its effects are still felt today in the dislike of ostentatious behavior in Japan today.

The Old Reiganji Temple and Site

This is the second reiteration of Reiganji temple. The Reiganji temple was in what is now Chuo city just to the west across the Arakawa river. During the great fire of Meireki 10,000 or more people perished on or near the grounds of old Reiganji temple. When the new city plans were drawn up for reconstruction it was decided to move the temple to its current location.

Reiganji Temple Points of Interest

300 Year Old Statue Bronze Jizō-Bosatsu Statue

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When I first saw this statue I thought it was just another statue of Buddha with a red bib like one of the little Jizo statues that are seen from place to place. After researching a little about this statue it came to light that it is actually quite extraodinary! This is one of the “Edo Roku Jizo” or the Six Jizo of Edo (premodern Tokyo). The story goes something like this. A monk dedicated to Jizo named Shogen became incredibly ill. So he and his parents prayed to the boddhisatva Jizo. Miraculously he recovered and went about petitioning for the erection of six statues to Jizō-Bosatsu (the boddhisatva Jizo) just like the six Jizo statues in Kyoto. Eventually after thirty years and 72,000 petitioners six 2.5 meter bronze Jizo statues were built around Edo. Sadly one of the statues located in Eitai temple near the second tori gate at Tamioka shrine in MonzenNakacho was destroyed due to severe anti-Buddhist/pro-Shinto fundamentalists destroying the temple at the beginning of the Meiji era.

Locations of the Six Jizō-Bosatsu Statues of Edo

• Shinagawaji Temple ・・・ 3-5-17 Minami-shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku 〒140‐0004
• Tozenji Temple ・・・・ 2-12-13 Asakusa, Taito-ku 〒111‐0025
• Taisoji Temple ・・・・2-9-2 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku 〒160‐0022
• Shinshoji Temple ・・・3-21-21 Sugamo, Toshima-ku 〒170‐0002
• Reiganji Temple ・・・・1-3-32 Shirakawa, Koto-ku 〒135‐0021
• Eitaiji Temple ・・・・・1-15-1Tomioka, Koto-ku 〒135‐0047

Cemetery at Reiganji Holding Matsudaira Sadanobu

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H erein lie two tombs of two notable men. The first is the tomb of Matsudaira Sadanobu, the architect of the Kansei reforms that corrected the Japanese government’s economy after a self-induced massive famine caused by selling all available food rice at high prices thus depleting the amount for regular food for people to eat in northern Japan. It is a Japan National Designated Historical Site. The other is the tomb of Shenichi Shokyosai, the father of Japanese modern magic. Born before the Meiji reform he studied and became the master of illusion magic. He amazed even emperor Meiji himself. His tomb is a Koto City Registered Tangible Cultural Property.