Koho Zenji's Temple, Raigakuji.

Raigakuji is a temple about two miles north of Chino in Nagano Prefecture. The site is on a hillside looking westwards towards the higher peaks of central Japan. From the top of the hill, on a clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji far to the south.

Keido Chisan Koho Zenji was the 32nd abbot here, and from many of the things we were told about the temple it was clearly a place he loved very much and which he had strong personal and family ties with (towards the end of her life his mother lived here). When he was first associated with Raigakuji he was responsible for raising funds for a new ceremony hall for the temple to replace one that had been destroyed by fire, and we saw photos of him and people from the local community with this work in progress. In a place of honour on the ceremony hall wall is a big oil painting of him in later life.

The meditation hall at Raigakuji is reached by a staircase leading up the hillside.
By Iain.

Outside of the main hall.