Izumi Shrine

Set inside Suizenji Jojuen Garden, Izumi Shrine was built in 1878 to honor the Hosokawa lords who governed Kumamoto for over 240 years. The founding came just one year after the Satsuma Rebellion burned much of the city, with local retainers choosing the garden for its deep ties to the clan. Look for the stone handwashing basin fed by a spring from Mt. Aso and an extraordinary pine that started life as a bonsai belonging to a Hosokawa lord in the seventeenth century. One stone torii gate, toppled in the 2016 earthquake, was rebuilt in wood.