HOME > Sightseeing > Temples & Shrines

Temples & Shrines

Highlight
Kegonji got its nick name "suzumushi dera" which literally means cricket temple, because the monks of the temple raise bell crickets and kept them at a consistent temperature which causes them to sing all year round.

Details
Saint Hotan built Suzumushi Temple in 1723 (the middle of the Edo period);its official name is Myotokuzan Kegon-ji. Suzumushi means crickets in English. Hotan was famous as a hard-working Buddhist monk. In summer, you could enjoy listening to crickets singing. Their songs make us feel comfortable and give us a pleasant time. However, we could only listen to them during the summer. So a priest at Kegon-ji tried training crickets to chirp all year round. Twenty-eight years later, he could achieve his goal through hard research. This temple is the only place in Japan to listen to beautiful cricket songs in all the seasons. Another reason why the priest started to take care of crickets is that crickets live simply without any greed. Crickets live only about 110 days. However, they can sing only for 40～50 days. Although their lives are very short, they seem to live eagerly each day. This reminded the priest of Zen Buddhism of the importance of living this way, so he hoped that we too would live like them.