増福寺

Zofukuji, in full Seikozan Byakugoin Zofukuji, a Jodo temple whose principal image is a standing Amida Nyorai and which is the thirty-second stop on the Osaka Shin Shijuhachi Gansho Amida pilgrimage. It was founded in Keicho 7 (1602) by the priest Ryoyo Myotaku. The main hall burned in Meiwa 5 and was rebuilt in An'ei 2; the gate escaped that fire and the air raids on Osaka as well, and stands today as it did at the founding. Many of its parishioners were figures in the Kamigata publishing trade from the Edo period onward, so the temple has a history as the printers' and booksellers' temple of Osaka. Byakugoen, the perpetual memorial grave built around a seated Amida on an inverted lotus cast in Genroku 14 as a prayer for women's rebirth in the Pure Land, accepts ashes whatever the visitor's religion, in a very quiet setting.

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