Hofukuji Temple

Hofukuji is the temple of “Jodo Shinshu” that is a school of Pure Land Buddhism and was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk, Shinran.
It was built in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600) in Shimoda city.
In the late Edo period (1603-1867), “Kaisyu Katsu*” visited Chodo Yamauchi, who was the 15th lord of Tosa and staying in this area, and attempted to ask him to pardon “Ryoma Sakamoto**” who had abandoned the Tosa domain that was a feudal domain in Tosa Province of Japan (present-day Kochi Prefecture).
The meeting was held in this temple.
The audience room is left as it was at that time, and the diary of “Kaisyu Katsu” that describes the events of this day is displayed.
Shimoda city was the first place to open its port for trade, together with Hakodate, after the conclusion of the Amity between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan in 1854.
When negotiations for the treaty were being held, Hofukuji Temple became the headquarters representing Japan, and the Shimoda Magistrate Office was placed there.

* “Kaisyu Katsu” (1823-1899): He was a Japanese statesman and naval engineer during the late Tokugawa Shogunate and early Meiji period.
** “Ryoma Sakamoto” (1836-1867): He was a Japanese prominent figure in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate in the late Edo period.