称名寺

　　　称名寺
　称名寺は、正保元年（1644年）円龍上人が亀田村（現市内亀田八幡宮辺り）に阿弥陀庵を建てたのが始まりといわれており、箱館開港当初はイギリスとフランスの領事館としても利用された古い寺院である。
　明暦元年（1655年）阿弥陀堂と称したが、元禄３年（1690年）称名寺を公称し、宝永５年（1708年）亀田の衰退と箱館の繁栄により箱館の富岡町（現・弥生町弥生小学校辺り）に移転した。
　明治12年（1879年）の大火で本堂を焼失し、同14年（1881年）この地に移転した。その後、幾度か大火のため建物を焼失したが、昭和４年（1929年）現在の鉄筋コンクリート寺院が完成した。
　境内には、函館の語源と言われる「箱館」の館主・河野政通の供養碑をはじめ、高田屋嘉兵衛の顕彰碑、土方歳三と新撰組隊士の供養碑があるほか、北海道最古の石碑として有名な「貞治の碑」（貞治６年（1367年）２月の銘がある板碑で北海道指定有形文化財）が保存されている。
　また、墓地には函館発展のもとを築いた高田屋一族、新島襄の海外渡航を助け日本最初の官立気象観測所を開設した福士成豊、日魯漁業株式会社創立者堤清六など、著名な人の墓や記念碑がある。

函館市

　　　Shomyo-ji Temple
It is said that a priest named Enryu built Amida-an (a small building dedicated to the Buddha Amida) in Kameda village in 1644, near the present- day Kameda Hachiman Shrine. In 1655 it was upgraded to Amida-do (hall), and in 1690 it was renamed Shomyo-ji (temple). “
In 1708 it was moved to a site near Yayoi Elementary School in the more prosperous port area and was even used as a consular office for England and France when Hakodate was first opened as an international port in the 1850s.
The main building of the temple was destroyed by fire in 1879. Two years later it was relocated here. It was damaged by fire several more times before being rebuilt with reinforced concrete in 1929.
In its grounds are monuments to Kono Masamichi (who settled in Hakodate in the 15th century) and members of the Shinsengumi (the Tokugawa shogunate’s special fighting unit, created in 1863), and memorial services are regularly held in honour of them. There is a monument to honor Takadaya Kahei, too. Another famous stone monument is the Jyoji Monument. Built in February 1367, it is the oldest in Hokkaido and now officially recognised as one of Hokkaido’s tangible cultural assets.
Also in the grounds are the gravestones of some heroes: the Takadaya family, who contributed to the development of early 19th century Hakodate; Fukushi Naritoyo, who assisted Niijima Jo to go abroad and who established Japan’s first meteorological observatory; and Tsutsumi Seiroku, the founder of the Nichiro Fishery Corporation.

CITY OF HAKODATE