Shôkoku-ji's Establishment

As Yoshimitsu established his authority as shogun, he was encouraged by Shun'oku Myôha to diligently practice zazen. This led Yoshimitsu to decide to establish a temple as a demonstration of his dedication to Zen.

In September 1382, Yoshimitsu attended a ceremony conducted by Musô Soseki (also known as Musô Kokushi, 1275-1371) at Sanne-in in Saga. On this occasion he summoned Shun'oku Myôha and Gidô Shûshin and expressed his wish to build a temple that would provide lodgings for from fifty to one hundred dedicated monks. He also said that in the near future he intended to don monk's robes himself, enter the temple, and practice with the others. The two monks readily assented to his proposal, and in October of the same year he conferred with them again, indicating that he was seeking imperial sanction for the project and wished to discuss a name for the temple. Shun'oku suggested that since Yoshimitsu's present imperial rank was minister of the left, and the equivalent Chinese rank was shôkoku, the temple should be named Shôkoku-ji. Gidô Shûshin declared this a felicitous choice, adding that there was a Chinese temple named Dai Shôkoku-ji*, and advised that since Yoshimitsu was applying for imperial sanction for the project, the full name of the temple be Jôten ("sanctioned by the emperor") Shôkoku-ji. With this encouragement, Yoshimitsu decided to proceed with the temple's construction.

* The Chinese temple Xiangguosi, the Chinese pronunciation of Shôkoku-ji, still exists in Haifeng, Henan Province, and is a sister temple of Shôkoku-ji.