Jodo Buddhist Temple · Asakusa, Tokyo
Shojoji Temple
普照山 正定寺
Home / English
Jodo Buddhist Temple · Asakusa, Tokyo
普照山 正定寺
Home / English
Welcome
Shojoji is a temple of the Jodo (Pure Land) school of Buddhism, standing in the Asakusa district of Tokyo for more than four hundred years.
Founded in 1613, the temple has witnessed the Great Kanto Earthquake, the bombing of Tokyo, and the many changes that have reshaped this city — yet the chanting of the nembutsu has never fallen silent here.
Visitors of any background are warmly welcome to walk through the gate, see the graves of two remarkable figures from Japan's past, and spend a quiet moment in the middle of a very lively city.
History
Notable Graves
Late Edo-period swordsman
島田虎之助（1814–1852）
A samurai of the Nakatsu domain, Shimada became one of the most celebrated swordsmen of the closing years of the Edo period, ranked alongside his own teacher, Otani Nobutomo. He opened a dojo not far from Shojoji, where a young Katsu Kaishu — later a key figure in the modernization of Japan — trained as his student. Shimada died at thirty-nine and was laid to rest here; the inscription on his grave, composed by his teacher, reads in part, "I grieve as though I had lost my own arm."
Master of kote-e plaster relief
入江長八（1815–1889）／「伊豆の長八」
Born to a poor farming family in Izu, Chohachi trained as a plasterer before travelling to Edo, where he studied painting under a disciple of the great Kano school. He fused the two crafts into kote-e — raised plaster relief, painted in vivid color — decorating temples and buildings across the city with birds, dragons, and flowers rendered in stucco. Known affectionately as "Izu no Chohachi," he is buried at Shojoji, with a second grave, per his wishes, in his native Izu.
Eternal Memorial
For families without an heir to tend a grave — including those living abroad, far from Japan — Shojoji maintains an eternal memorial monument called Tsuki no Hikari ("the light of the moon"), built in 2021.
Remains may be interred individually or as a family, without the need to become a temple parishioner and regardless of one's own religious background. The resident priest continues memorial services in perpetuity.
If this may be of interest to you or your family, please see the Japanese-language page for full details, or write to us — we are glad to correspond in English.
Visiting
Contact
For questions in English — about visiting, about Tsuki no Hikari, or anything else — please write to us by email. We check messages regularly and will reply as soon as we are able.
Email shojoji.meiwa@gmail.comWe are not able to take calls in English at this time, so email is the best way to reach us. For urgent matters, Japanese speakers may telephone the number listed on our Japanese contact page.