Even though its year of establishment is unknown, Rinkai-ji Temple is said to have existed on the long embankment which was built to go over to Mii Gusuku Castle.
Mii Gusuku Castle was constructed in the middle of the 1500’s to safeguard Naha Port. Originally, it was a betto-ji temple (a temple attached to a shrine) to manage “Okigu”, but later because of the separation of Shinto and Buddhism during the Meiji period, it became independent of Okigu. The Rinkai-ji Temple of its day, standing on the seaside, appears in one of the pictures drawn by Katsushika Hokusai. The one picture Hokusai drew of the Rinkaiji Temple is called “Rinkai kosei”, a part of the “Eight Scenes of Ryukyu,” which was drafted from “Kyuyo Eight Scenes” around 1832. It is also seen in the “Naha History Map,” on the page of “Rinkai Kosei” of “Ryukyu Kokushigakuryaku,” authored by the Meiji-era historical geographer Nakabaru Zenchu, of Kume Island, several decades after Hokusai.
It is said that Rinkai-ji Temple was used as lodging for visitors from overseas during the Ryukyu Kingdom era; and there are records that the Japanese monk “Nisshu Shoshin” and British Captain “Basil Hall (1788 – 1844) stayed at the Rinkai-ji Temple on the seaside. Entering into the Meiji era, when the sea, which was located between the west of the long embankment and the Naha Port on a narrow strip, was reclaimed for land, and Rinkai-ji Temple was moved to Kakinohana-cho. Further into the Showa era, the Battle of Okinawa destroyed the temple building; afterward, the temple was move to the current location in Akebono-cho, with its reconstruction having been completed here. The religious school of the Rinkai-ji Temple is the “Toji-Shingon sect” and other Okinawan temples sharing the same sect are Jingu-ji Temple (Futenma, Ginowan City), Henshou-ji Temple (Kubota, Okinawa City), Shogen-ji Temple (Uenoya, Naha City) and Jintoku-ji Temple (Asato, Naha City).

Basic information

Address

900-0002 1-18-19 Akebono Naha Okinawa

TEL

098-861-2009　(English is not supported）

Business hours

8:30 - 18:00

Close day

Open all year

Charge

Free

Parking

Parking is available.

Access information

A 6-minute walk from the Okinawa Sharp-mae bus stop.