Shōrin-ji

Hahasozan ('Mother Nest Mountain') Shōrin-ji carries a predecessor in its full name. Mosuzan Zōfuku-ji once stood on Chichibu Shrine grounds as a station of medieval combinatory Buddhist–Shintō worship. After the 1868 shinbutsu-bunri dismantled that practice and Zōfuku-ji was abandoned, Goyōzan Shōrin-ji relocated from Yanagishima, absorbed the older mountain name (sango), and inherited the Chichibu pilgrimage's fifteenth-station role. Administrative reorganisation thus preserved Kannon devotion.

Shōrin-ji belongs to the Kenchō-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. Kenchō-ji in Kamakura is its head temple and Japan's oldest Zen training monastery; the local lineage came through Kinsen-ji, whose second abbot Seishuku is recorded as Shōrin-ji's founder. Despite English overviews grouping Chichibu Zen temples as Sōtō, Japanese sources confirm this Rinzai affiliation.

Its honzon is Jūichimen Kannon, Eleven-Faced Kannon, venerated as perceiving suffering in every direction at once. The image's pilgrimage lineage descends from medieval Mosuzan and its pre-Meiji syncretic mountain Buddhism. After the 1878 Great Chichibu Fire, the white-plastered main hall was rebuilt in fire-resistant earthen-wall (dozō) style, memorialising disaster and devotional resilience. The goeika still begins 'Mosu no mori no…' ('In the Mother Nest forest…'), carrying Zōfuku-ji's identity into contemporary Rinzai liturgy.

Sacredness here is institutional and architectural at once. The mosu (Mother Nest) syllable in the temple's mountain name carries the memory of Mosuzan Zōfuku-ji, which stood on Chichibu Shrine grounds until the 1868 shinbutsu-bunri made such combined Buddhist–Shintō sites administratively impossible. The goeika hymn that still names 'Mosu no mori' is a small act of preservation — the old name carried into the new liturgy.

The dozō main hall, white-plastered after the 1878 fire, is itself a thin-place factor. Its architecture announces both loss (the original buildings burned) and continuity (Kannon devotion was rebuilt in fire-resistant form to outlast future disasters).

Located in the historic Banba-machi neighbourhood of central Chichibu, the temple's adjacency to Chichibu Shrine still echoes the centuries-old combinatory worship at Mosuzan, even though the formal administrative link was severed in 1868.

The fifteenth-station role originally belonged to Mosuzan Zōfuku-ji, a syncretic Buddhist–Shintō hall on Chichibu Shrine grounds. After Zōfuku-ji was abandoned during the Meiji separation laws, Goyōzan Shōrin-ji (from Yanagishima) relocated to the Mosuzan site, absorbing both the station number and the mountain name. The merged temple inherited the role of Kannon hall and Rinzai parish.

Founded by Seishuku, the second abbot of Kinsen-ji, the temple is the result of a Meiji-era merger between the abandoned Zōfuku-ji and the relocated Shōrin-ji. The current main hall was rebuilt in fire-resistant dozō style after the 1878 Great Chichibu Fire. The temple has continued in active Rinzai practice and as a fudasho station throughout.

Compared with the wooded mountain stations earlier and later on the route, Shōrin-ji feels deliberately urban. The temple sits in Banba-machi, on a city street, with cars and pedestrians passing. The dozō main hall is its visual signature — white-plastered, with the heavy-walled solidity that the post-fire builders intended.

For Hyakkannon pilgrims walking the central Chichibu cluster, Shōrin-ji marks the close of the in-town stations (#13–#15) before the route turns southwest toward the river temples. The merger story invites reflection on how religious institutions absorb loss and reinvent themselves; pilgrims who learn the goeika's opening line — 'Mosu no mori no…' — often pause longer at the offering box.

Approach via Chichibu Station (Seibu Chichibu Line / Chichibu Railway), about ten minutes' walk northwest. The temple is adjacent to Chichibu Shrine — visit the shrine before or after to acknowledge the older shared geography of Mosuzan. At the temple, light incense, recite a Heart Sutra at the Kannon-dō, and request a goshuin. If you sing or hum the goeika, the opening line 'Mosu no mori no…' carries a five-hundred-year-old memory.

The fifteenth-station role originally belonged to Mosuzan Zōfuku-ji, a combinatory Buddhist–Shintō temple on Chichibu Shrine grounds. After Zōfuku-ji was abandoned during the Meiji-era shinbutsu-bunri separation, Goyōzan Shōrin-ji from Yanagishima relocated to the Mosuzan site. The merged temple took the name Hahasozan ('Mother Nest Mountain') Shōrin-ji and inherited both the fudasho station and the mountain name from its absorbed predecessor. Founded by Seishuku, the second abbot of Kinsen-ji, the temple's exact founding year is unrecorded but lies in the mid-fifteenth century.

The current main hall was rebuilt in fire-resistant dozō style after the 1878 Great Chichibu Fire.

Kenchō-ji-branch Rinzai Zen has held the temple since the Meiji-era reorganization. Kenchō-ji in Kamakura is the head temple. Shōrin-ji's local Rinzai lineage came via Kinsen-ji in Chichibu, whose second abbot Seishuku is recorded as Shōrin-ji's founder.

Rinzai liturgy structures the temple's daily practice. Sutra recitation before the Kannon image and the goeika (pilgrimage hymn) — Shōrin-ji's verse begins 'Mosu no mori no…', preserving the older Zōfuku-ji name within the current liturgy — are the foundational devotional acts. Goshuin (red-seal calligraphy) is inscribed daily for pilgrims.

Pilgrims light incense, leave a small coin offering (¥5, ¥25, or ¥45 considered auspicious), recite the Heart Sutra, ring the bell, and request a goshuin. Many also pair the visit with neighbouring Chichibu Shrine in acknowledgment of the older Mosuzan geography.

Pair the visit with Chichibu Shrine to honour the older shared site of Mosuzan. Read the goeika opening — 'Mosu no mori no…' — before arriving; understanding that the line preserves a five-hundred-year-old name changes how the visit feels. The 2026 umadoshi sōkaichō opens the Eleven-Faced Kannon honzon for the first time in twelve years.

Shōrin-ji rewards readings as institutional history (the Meiji-era merger that produced the present temple), as architectural memorial (the dozō main hall built after the 1878 fire), and as devotional preservation (the goeika that still names the absorbed Zōfuku-ji).

Continue through the atlas by country, tradition, physical form, or a focused search that combines this place’s strongest context.

Explore other sacred places in the region. Proximity does not establish access or travel time; check each place’s guidance.

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Sources consulted for this page. Source categories describe the publication, not a guarantee that every claim is verified. Traditional accounts and outside interpretations may differ.

1. 01Chichibu 34 Kannon Sanctuary — Wikipedia contributorsofficialLists temple #15 as Shōrin-ji enshrining Jūichimen Kannon (Eleven-Faced Kannon).
2. 02札所15番 母巣山 少林寺 — Chichibu City governmentofficialMunicipal record of the temple, its founding lineage, and 1878 fire reconstruction in fire-resistant earthen-wall (dozō) style.
3. 0315番 少林寺 — Chichibu Fudasho Renraku Kyōgikai (秩父札所連合会)officialOfficial pilgrimage federation page; primary source for sect, sango, honzon.
4. 04The Chichibu 34 Fudasho Kannon Pilgrimage — An Introduction — Pierce Salguero / USC ScalaracademicAcademic overview of the pilgrimage, sectarian breakdown, and post-Meiji reorganization that produced the current Zen majority.
5. 05Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage: Historical Overview — Chichibu Omotenashi Tourism OrganizationofficialEnglish-language official tourism overview of the pilgrimage.
6. 06少林寺。秩父市番場町にある臨済宗建長寺派寺院 — Tesshow.jp (regional temple-shrine database)guideConfirms Rinzai Kenchō-ji branch affiliation and historical merger with Zōfuku-ji.