Ankokuji Temple

Built in 1339 on the orders of Ashikaga Takauji, the first shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, as one of a network of provincial temples erected to comfort the souls of those killed in the wars following the fall of the Kamakura shogunate. The Kikuchi clan, who had fought and lost against Takauji, governed this region. More than a century later, a defeated clan leader took his own life here before his enemies burned the temple down. The current main hall dates to 1515, rebuilt after that tragedy. The tomb of Kikuchi Masataka stands at the foot of the hill behind the hall.