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 Long ago on the banks of the Usui River, there was a thatched hut housing a statue of kanon, the bodhisattva of compassion.? Legend has it that after a flood the villagers found an old log of fragrant wood and also placed it in the hut.? One day, during the Enpoo period (circa 1680), an old ascetic named Ichiryo-koji arrived and reverently carved a seated figure of Daruma-Daishi out of the piece of fragrant wood.? Subsequently, both statues were enshrined there. Later in the Genroku period(circa.1697), Shinetsu, the Zen Priest from China, founded this temple. he was the mentor for Tokugawa-Mitsukuni, a highranked officer from the Mito lineage of the Tokugawa Family in the shogunnate in the edo era.? What Shinetsu brought with him was a holy statue called Hokushin-chintaku Reifuson that realizes the wishes of peace and happiness with the prayer for the polar star. His disciple and successor, the Japanese Zen Priest Tenshu, from Mito, became the second abbot, and built a shrine to house the Reifuson. In the kyoho period (circa.1731),the crest of the Tokugawa family(Aoi-no-gomon)〈left〉 and a seal representing the character for water〈right〉,were bestowed on the temple. Thus the temple

? compound, Shorinzan-Darumaji, with all its religious artifacts, became a place of prayer and devotion for the protection of the nation and eternal peace of its people. Since that time, the light of Buddhism has been transmitted here.