Ansenji

The date of founding is unknown. Long a nenbutsu dojo for the village, a hall for nenbutsu practice, it became a branch temple of the Otani school of Shinshu in Kanbun 7 (1667), early in the Tokugawa period, and it is the temple of Ikai village itself. In the Tokugawa period Ansenji kept the village household registers and ran a terakoya school. In Meiji 5 (1872) it became Ikaino Elementary School, and in Meiji 20 (1887) it merged with Kinomura Elementary School on the far side of the Hirano River, which Sogenji had also opened, and it taught the children of the village until Tsuruhashi Ordinary Elementary School was built. The present main hall and priests' quarters were completely rebuilt in the spring of Taisho 14 (1925) by the head priest and the parishioners working together: the south front was changed to a west front with a hongawara tile roof, the drum tower was done away with and made into a bell gate, and a well-house type washing place was attached. The bell gate was donated by Kimura Gon'emon. In Heisei 6 (1994) the Ikaino Wakanaka Hall, which stood in the southwest corner of the grounds, was moved to a site 50 m south in the village, the aging priests' quarters were pulled down, the Ansenji Monko Hall and new quarters were built on the two sites, and the main hall was fully repaired.

Translated and shortened from the Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City tourist listings (観光施設一覧, CC BY 4.0).