Gyokusenji Temple

Japanese: 玉泉寺 - ぎょくせんじ

<br /> A temple located in Kakizaki, Shimoda City, Shizuoka Prefecture. It is a Soto Zen temple that is remembered in the history of the Meiji Restoration as the first temple in Japan to house the American Consulate General, and where the first Consul General, Townsend Harris, lived. When Shimoda was opened to foreign trade following the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Amity in March 1854 (Kaei 7), Gyokusenji was designated as a resting place and burial place for Americans. When American Consul General Harris landed in Shimoda in 1856 (Ansei 3), it served as the consulate until 1859 (Ansei 6). The main hall, built in 1848 (Kaei 1), has a hipped roof with a width of 7 bays and a depth of 6 bays, and the interior was used as Harris's room and an adjoining room, as well as the room and office of interpreter Heusken. As an important building in the history of diplomacy at the end of the Edo period that conveys the scale of the time, it was designated a national historic site in 1951 (Showa 26). The adjacent Harris Memorial Museum displays Harris's favorite items and letters, as well as other related materials from when he was Consul General, as well as the belongings of Yoshida Shoin and Japan's oldest daguerreotype photograph. Take the Minamiizu Tokai Bus from Izukyu-Shimoda Station on the Izukyu Line to Kakizaki Jinja-mae stop, and walk for about 2 minutes.

Source: Kodansha National Historic Site Guide Information

Japanese:

静岡県下田市柿崎にある寺院。日本で最初にアメリカ総領事館が置かれた寺として幕末維新史に名を留め、初代総領事タウンゼント・ハリスが過ごした曹洞宗の寺。1854年（嘉永7）3月に日米和親条約の締結によって下田が開港されると、玉泉寺はアメリカ人の休息所、埋葬所に指定された。そして1856年（安政3）にアメリカ総領事のハリスが下田に上陸すると、1859年（安政6）まで領事館とした。1848年（嘉永1）に建てられた本堂は、間口7間、奥行き6間の寄せ棟造りで、内部はハリスの居室や次の間、通訳のヒュースケンの居室や事務室になっており、当時の規模をよく伝える幕末外交史上重要な建物であることから、1951年（昭和26）に国の史跡に指定された。併設のハリス記念館では、総領事のハリスの愛用の品々や書簡などの関連資料をはじめ、吉田松陰の遺品や日本最古の銀板写真なども収蔵展示されている。伊豆急行線伊豆急下田駅から南伊豆東海バス「柿崎神社前」下車、徒歩約2分。

出典　講談社国指定史跡ガイドについて　情報

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