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Tourist Attractions and Experiences

Nanshuji Temple

This famous temple flourished as a cultural center during the Middle Ages. It has deep connections with Sakai's tea masters such as Sen Rikyu and Takeno Joo, and Rikyu's favorite tea room ``Jitsouan'' is located within the temple grounds.

This temple of the Rinzai sect of Buddhism, Daitokuji school, was founded in 1557 south of Shukuin by Miyoshi Nagayoshi, who ruled Sakai as the governor of Izumi and Kawachi, to commemorate the soul of his father, Motonaga. It was burned down during the Summer Siege of Osaka, but was rebuilt in 1617 by the head priest, Takuan, in its current location in Minami-Hatago-cho, where it remains to this day. The Buddha hall built in 1653, the mountain gate (Kanromon) built in 1647, and the Karamon gate built in the early Edo period are all designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan. The Shakyamuni Buddha is enshrined as the principal image. It is said that Sen no Rikyu and Takeno Jo'o, the masters of the tea ceremony, trained here, and the two-tatami-mat teahouse Jissoan, which was favored by Rikyu, was rebuilt in July 1960. The dry landscape garden, thought to have been created in the early Edo period, is also very beautiful (a nationally designated place of scenic beauty).

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