Object description

Shimotsuke Kokubun-ji is a Buddhist temple in the city of Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan, belonging to the Shingon-shu Buzan-ha sect, and is the provincial temple of former Shimotsuke Province. The present temple is of uncertain foundation, but claims to be the direct descendant of the original Nara period kokubunji temple which fell into ruins sometime in the Kamakura period. The Nara-period temple ruins were designated a National Historic Site in 1921, and the area under protection was expanded in 2005.