The ancestral temple of the Akizuki Kuroda’s and links to the Tokugawa clan.
Built by the Akizuki clan in 1575, Dairyo-ji was originally known as Akizuki-san Kosho-in Josen-ji. The temple was moved to its present site in 1632 and renamed when it became the family temple of Kuroda Nagaoki, the first lord of the Akizuki domain.
The Tokugawa clan’s triple hollyhock crest can be seen at the front of the temple sanctuary. This shows the link to the most powerful Edo period clan. Nagaoki’s mother, Dairyoin (wife of Kuroda Nagamasa) was related to the Kyoto Tokugawa clan and was enshrined here after she died in 1635.
Behind the temple a number of paths lead through the many gravestones that cover the hills.
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