Nanzen-ji

Quick facts

Address

86 Nanzenji Fukuchicho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto

About this place

Nanzen-ji stands in Sakyo, Kyoto. It was founded rather more than seven hundred and ten years ago, in 1291, when the retired Emperor Kameyama received the Zen master Mukan Fumon as founding abbot. In 1289 the retired emperor had taken the tonsure at his detached palace Zenrinji-dono. Strange happenings soon troubled the palace; Mukan stayed there with his monks and did nothing but sit in meditation, sweep and keep the daily offices — living exactly as in a meditation hall — and the disturbances came to an end.

Origin and history

Nanzen-ji was founded rather more than seven hundred and ten years ago, in 1291, when the retired Emperor Kameyama received the Zen master Mukan Fumon as founding abbot.

In 1289, the national crisis past, the retired emperor took the tonsure at his detached palace Zenrinji-dono.

Strange happenings soon troubled the palace. Mukan stayed there with his trainee monks and did nothing but sit in meditation, sweep and keep the daily offices — living exactly as in a meditation hall — and the strange happenings came to an end.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  Only sitting, sweeping and the offices

  The temple records that the palace’s strange happenings ended when Mukan and his monks lived there exactly as in a meditation hall.

  documented history

• Origin

  Founded in 1291

  The retired Emperor Kameyama received Mukan Fumon as founding abbot in 1291.

  documented history

• Origin

  Taking the tonsure at the palace

  In 1289 the retired emperor took the tonsure at his detached palace Zenrinji-dono.

  documented history

This temple’s founding story is an odd one. When the retired emperor’s palace was troubled, what the invited master did was neither prayer nor exorcism. He lived there with his monks, sat, swept, and kept the offices — the life of a meditation hall, moved indoors. And that, the temple records, was the end of it.

Nothing was chanted away. An ordinary daily routine was brought in and the trouble stopped. The temple offers no explanation; it sets it down as what happened.

No category of prayer is attached to this page. This is a founding anecdote about one palace, not something offered to people who come.

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Sources

1. 南禅寺の歴史 — 南禅寺 — Nanzen-ji (accessed 2026-08-13)