Danrin-ji

Danrin-ji (檀林寺) was Japan's first Zen temple, founded in Saga, Kyōto by order of Empress Danrin during the Jōwa era.^[1]

Danrin-ji Buddhist Temple - Main temple

The temple began as a nunnery with a cluster of 12 sub-temple buildings in 836.^[2] Empress Danrin invited the monk Gikū to Danrin-ji and later took monastic vows there herself.^[3] The Chan Buddhist teachings of Gikū were not well received in Japan and he returned to China.^[4]

The temple was destroyed by fire in 928, but was restored in 1321, and during the Muromachi period the temple was designated as one of Kyōto's five great Buddhist nunneries.^[3] The temple eventually fell into disrepair, and in 1339 construction of Tenryū-ji began on its grounds.^[4]