Tōzen-ji Temple

, is a Buddhist temple located in Takanawa, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The temple belongs to the Myōshin-ji branch of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. One of the four great Zen temples of Edo, it is best known in history as the location of the first British legation in Japan during the Bakumatsu period and the site of a number of incidents against foreigners by pro-sonnō jōi samurai. The temple's precincts were designated a National Historic Site in 2010.

==History== The temple was established in 1610 in Akasaka by Ryōnan Zenji, and its name comes from the Dharma name of Itō Sukenori, daimyō of Obi Domain in Hyūga Province (preset day Miyazaki Prefecture). In 1636 it was relocated to its present location. At the time, the temple was directly on Edo Bay and for that reason was nicknamed Kaijō Zenrin (literally, "the Zen forest above the sea"). During the Edo Period it served as the bodaiji for a number of daimyō clans, including the: Date clan of Sendai Domain Date clan of Uwajima Domain Date clan of Iyo-Yoshida Domain Ikeda clan of Okayama Domain Ikeda clan of Akō Domain Ikeda clan of Kamogata Domain Ikeda clan of Ikusaka Domain Suwa clan of Suwa Domain Matsudaira clan of Kanō Domain Oda clan of Yanagimoto Domain Inaba clan of Usuki Domain Mōri clan of Saiki Domain