Confidence
| Field | Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Temple name | 97% | Bottom-left brush reads 大谿山豪徳寺 (Daikei-zan Gōtoku-ji). Center calligraphy 釈迦牟尼仏 (Shakyamuni Buddha) is the documented standard goshuin's center text. The two flanking red rectangle seals 「招福猫児発祥之地」 (top right, "Birthplace of the Beckoning Cat") and 「井伊大老之墓所」 (top left, "Tomb of the Ii Great Elder") are documented as the standard pair. The bottom-right red square seal in tensho is the temple's official seal. |
| Date | 97% | Right column reads 令和六年五月十四日 = 14 May 2024. All characters legible. |
Identification
- Name (Japanese): 大谿山 豪徳寺
- Name (Romanized): Daikei-zan Gōtoku-ji (often just Gōtoku-ji)
- Type: Sōtō Zen Buddhist temple
- Principal deity (本尊): 釈迦牟尼仏 (Shakyamuni Buddha — the historical Buddha)
- Location: Setagaya Ward, Tokyo (between Gōtoku-ji Station on the Odakyu Line and Miyanosaka Station on the Tōkyū Setagaya Line)
- Date received: 令和六年五月十四日 = 14 May 2024 — same day as Setagaya Hachimangū (entry 08)
Reading the goshuin
| Element | Reading | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 奉拝 (red rectangle) | "Humbly worshipped" — pilgrimage seal | Top right, red rectangle in tensho |
| 奉拝 (brush) | Hōhai — "humbly worshipped" | Top right, brush |
| 招福猫児発祥之地 | "Birthplace of the Beckoning Cat" | Top-right red rectangle in tensho |
| 井伊大老之墓所 | "Tomb of the Ii Great Elder" (Ii Naosuke's grave) | Top-left red rectangle in tensho |
| 本尊 | Honzon — "principal deity" | Right column, brush |
| 釈迦牟尼仏 | Shaka Muni Butsu — Shakyamuni Buddha | Center, large brush |
| Center red round seal | Temple's main seal | Center |
| 大谿山 | Daikei-zan — temple's mountain name | Bottom-left brush |
| 豪徳寺 | Gōtoku-ji — temple name | Bottom-left brush |
| 大谿山 (tensho) | Mountain name in seal script | Lower-right red square seal |
| 令和六年五月十四日 | 14 May 2024 | Right column, brush |
About the temple
Gōtoku-ji is a Sōtō Zen Buddhist temple in Setagaya famous for two largely separate things, both reflected in the seals on this goshuin:
1. Birthplace of the maneki-neko — 招福猫児発祥之地
According to temple tradition, in the early Edo period, a poor priest at this temple (then called 弘徳院 / Kōtoku-in) was passing his time scratching his cat's chin when a wealthy daimyo named Ii Naotaka (井伊直孝) of the Hikone Domain happened to pass by. The cat sat up and beckoned him with its paw to come into the temple. Naotaka stepped inside, and moments later a heavy thunderstorm struck — sparing him from being caught in the rain.
Ii Naotaka was so moved that he made the temple the bukkenji (family temple) of the Ii clan in 1633, transforming it from a small struggling temple into a major one. The temple was renamed 豪徳寺 (Gōtoku-ji) in honor of Naotaka's posthumous Buddhist name (久昌院殿豪徳天英大居士).
The cat became the 「招福猫児 (manekineko / shōfuku-nekoji)」 — "fortune-beckoning cat" — and Gōtoku-ji has been one of the two main claimants to the maneki-neko's origin (the other being Imado Jinja in Asakusa — see Book 1 entry 03).
Today the temple is famous for its 招福殿 (Shōfukuden) — a pavilion surrounded by thousands of white maneki-neko figurines of various sizes, donated by visitors whose wishes have come true. They line every available shelf and platform, creating one of the most photographed religious sites in Tokyo.
2. Tomb of the Ii Great Elder — 井伊大老之墓所
Because Gōtoku-ji is the Ii clan's family temple, Ii Naosuke (井伊直弼, 1815–1860) — the Tairō ("Great Elder," highest-ranking advisor to the shogun) and the architect of the 1858 Treaties of Amity and Commerce with Western powers — is buried here.
Naosuke is one of the most controversial figures in late-Edo Japanese history:
- He forced the opening of Japanese ports to Western trade through unequal treaties signed without imperial sanction
- He executed political opponents in the Ansei Purge (安政の大獄, 1858–1859)
- He was assassinated outside Edo Castle's Sakurada Gate (桜田門外の変) on 24 March 1860 by Mito and Satsuma loyalist samurai who opposed his Western treaties
Naosuke's grave at Gōtoku-ji is a designated National Historic Site. The temple is a frequent visit for Japanese history students and Bakumatsu-period (幕末) history buffs.
The Ii clan connection also explains why Hikone City (the Ii clan's domain) chose 「ひこにゃん (Hikonyan)」 — a maneki-neko in samurai helmet — as their official mascot: it directly references the Gōtoku-ji origin story.
Two days, two maneki-neko shrines/temples
This is significant: the user has goshuin from BOTH claimants of the maneki-neko origin in their collection:
- Imado Jinja (Asakusa, Tokyo) — Book 1, entry 03 — 25 May 2023
- Gōtoku-ji (Setagaya, Tokyo) — Book 3, entry 05 — 14 May 2024 (this entry)
The two shrines have a friendly historical rivalry. Imado claims the cat originated in the Edo-period clay-figurine industry of Asakusa; Gōtoku-ji claims the cat originated in their daimyo-rescue legend. Modern scholarly consensus is that both are partly true — the maneki-neko has multiple origin streams that converged in the late Edo period, with Imado contributing the ceramic-figurine practice and Gōtoku-ji contributing the temple legend. Either way, the user has paid respects to both lineages.
What it's known for / the blessing
- 招福 (shōfuku) — invitation of good fortune (the maneki-neko's core meaning)
- 学業成就 (gakugyō jōju) — success in studies (Sōtō Zen association)
- 災難除け (sainan-yoke) — protection from disasters (the original cat saved Ii Naotaka from a storm)
- Buddhist merit — paid respects to Shakyamuni Buddha (本尊)
- 歴史散策 (historical pilgrimage) — Bakumatsu / Ii Naosuke history