Eihei-ji

Eihei-ji lies in a narrow valley of the Shibi district, in the hills east of the city of Fukui. Dōgen, who had studied Chan Buddhism in Song China, left Kyoto in 1243 at the invitation of the warrior Hatano Yoshishige and founded a monastery here the following year, first called Daibutsu-ji. In 1246 he renamed it Eihei-ji, after the era name under which Buddhism was said to have reached China.

Together with Sōji-ji in Yokohama, Eihei-ji is one of the two head temples of the Sōtō school, one of the largest Buddhist denominations in Japan. Dōgen taught shikantaza, 'just sitting', and held that everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning and eating are themselves practice. The monastery still follows the rules he wrote, and its community of monks in training rises before dawn for meditation and services.

The complex follows the classic layout of a Zen monastery, with the seven principal halls — gate, Buddha hall, dharma hall, monks' hall, kitchen, bath and latrine — arranged on the slope and connected by roofed wooden corridors and stairs. Most of the buildings were rebuilt after repeated fires; the oldest, the Sanmon gate, dates from 1749.

After founding the monastery, Dōgen spent most of his remaining years here, writing much of his major work, the Shōbōgenzō, and training disciples. He died in Kyoto in 1253. Under his successors Eihei-ji became the root temple of Sōtō Zen, while the school's great expansion across Japan was driven largely by the Sōji-ji line.

The monastery was repeatedly damaged by fire, including during the civil wars of the fifteenth century, and was rebuilt with the support of warlords and later the Tokugawa shogunate, which in 1615 recognised Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji as the two head temples. Many of today's halls date from the Edo and Meiji periods.

Eihei-ji is one of the few places where visitors can see the daily life of a working Zen monastery. Monks in black robes move silently through the corridors, polish the wooden floors on their knees and prepare shōjin ryōri, vegetarian temple cuisine, in the great kitchen. Lay visitors can take part in short retreats (sanrō) with meditation, chanting and meals eaten in the formal Zen manner, by prior application.

The temple's influence reaches far beyond Fukui: Dōgen's writings are studied worldwide, and Sōtō Zen centres in Europe and the Americas trace their lineage to him. Around the temple gate, the approach is lined with shops selling sesame tofu and soba, specialities of the Echizen area.