Sofuku-JI in Fukuoka is known not only as the oldest Zen Buddhist temple in the city, but also as a place that gave rise to the tradition of Japanese tea ceremony.

At the end of the XII century by the monk-founder of the temple became Eisai brought from China and new teaching Zen, and a few tea bushes, which eventually turned into tea plantations. Also Eisai is known as the founder of the Buddhist Rinzai school. In 1200 he moved to Kamakura, where he was a samurai, the government, and there he founded several churches and monasteries. Temple Sofuku-JI temple was founded by the initiative of the ruler of the Kamakura Minamoto Yoritomo in 1195.

As a promoter of the culture of tea drinking, Eisai has established its cultivation and production. Their experiences, recipes, tea and even ways of treating this drink different diseases, he outlined in his treatise "Notes on the tea drink for nourishment of life" in 1214.

Today the temple is one of the main attractions of the city. It is located almost in the center of Fukuoka, but the surrounding Park and the decoration of the temple create an atmosphere that is substantially different from the life of a modern bustling city. The Park is a pond, where the carp swim koi and turtles, and growing trees cozy shade of the buildings of the temple complex.

Among the values stored in Sofuku-JI temple, you can celebrate the personal belongings of the founder of Asa, paintings in the style of Sumi-e, made by the Abbot, who headed the Church in the nineteenth century, and paintings by famous Japanese artist Senga and calligraphic inscription on a wooden Board by the Emperor's hand Gotama. The main attraction of the temple is considered Koray bell, cast in bronze in Korean style. Himself Sofuku-JI temple is recognized as one of the most beautiful Zen Buddhist temples in Japan. Note that in the land of the rising sun there is another Church with the same name and is located in the city of Nagasaki.

Many temples in Japan were destroyed or seriously damaged during the Second World war, however, the oldest temple of the Fukuoka Sofuku-JI temple and a Shinto Shrine Kushida-Jinja Shrine, built in the mid-eighth century, escaped this fate.