Sekijozan Myorakuji Temple

This guide to Sekijozan Myorakuji Temple in Fukuoka starts with the 1276 stone rampart raised along Hakata Bay after a Mongol invasion, and the Zen temple built right on top of it. It traces how that same fortress line later became a lodging for envoys arriving from Ming China, and follows the story of Ito Kozaemon, a Hakata merchant supplying the ruling Kuroda clan, into the strict isolation of the Edo period. Not far from him in the temple graveyard rests Kamiya Sotan, one of Hakata's great merchant princes. Look for both graves as you walk the grounds behind the main hall.