Zenshoan temple
Zen temple displaying ghost paintings collected by a rakugo storyteller, shown each August.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Zenshoan temple in Tokyo centers on the fifty ghost-painting scrolls the temple displays each August, collected by Sanyutei Encho, the era's most celebrated rakugo storyteller, to sharpen his own ghost stories. It follows how Encho hunted down old paintings of yurei spirits and commissioned new ones from contemporary artists before ever performing. The guide also traces the temple's founding in 1883 by the swordsman Yamaoka Tesshu, who had once ridden alone into an enemy camp to spare Edo Castle from destruction.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Kanda Myoujin Shrine
Vermilion shrine holding the vengeful spirit of a beheaded rebel warlord, prayed to before Japan's decisive battle.
Sengaku-ji
Cemetery temple where forty-seven avenging samurai and their lord lie buried beside a legendary well.
Mount Takao
Foliage-covered peak with ancient forest trails, a cable car, and a mountainside Buddhist temple guarded by tengu spirits.
Tokyo National Museum
Sprawling museum complex holding centuries of imperial art, antiquities, and Buddhist treasures.
Zojo-ji
Buddhist temple complex with a surviving sixteen-twenties gate and a Tokugawa shogun mausoleum.