Ankokuji Temple

Ankokuji is said to stand on the spot where Ashikaga Takauji was born, and it is a fine temple for cherry blossom in spring and maples in autumn. Nearby are the well from which Takauji's first bath was drawn, and the graves of Takauji, his wife and his mother. The temple's Jizo is the image before which his mother Kiyoko is said to have prayed for a son, and it is still venerated as a Jizo of safe childbirth. Among the temple's treasures, a Heian-period seated wooden Jizo attributed to the priest Eshin and a 1342 ink document attributed to Kenpo Shidon are Important Cultural Properties, as is the main hall of the Ebisu shrine within the grounds of Ishida Shrine, the temple's guardian shrine.