, is a Buddhist temple located in Takanawa, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The temple belongs to the Myōshin-ji branch of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. One of the four great Zen temples of Edo, it is best known in history as the location of the first British legation in Japan during the Bakumatsu period and the site of a number of incidents against foreigners by pro-sonnō jōi samurai. The temple's precincts were designated a National Historic Site in 2010. History The temple was established in 1610 in Akasaka by Ryōnan Zenji, and its name comes from the Dharma name of Itō Sukenori, daimyō of Obi Domain in Hyūga Province (preset day Miyazaki Prefecture). In 1636 it was relocated to its present location. At the time, the temple was directly on Edo Bay and for that reason was nicknamed Kaijō Zenrin (literally, "the Zen forest above the sea"). During the Edo Period it served as the bodaiji for a number of daimyō clans, including the: Date clan of Sendai Domain Date clan of Uwajima Domain Date clan of Iyo-Yoshida Domain Ikeda clan of Okayama Domain Ikeda clan of Akō Domain Ikeda clan of Kamogata Domain Ikeda clan of Ikusaka Domain Suwa clan of Suwa Domain Matsudaira clan of Kanō Domain Oda clan of Yanagimoto Domain Inaba clan of Usuki Domain Mōri clan of Saiki Domain The First Tōzenji incident One of the provisions of the 1858 Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce was that a representative of the British government would be permitted to reside in Edo. Rutherford Alcock was appointed Consul-General in Japan and selected Tōzen-ji to be used as the site of the British legation. It had been the policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate to commandeer temples for temporary use by foreign dignitaries, and Alcock felt that Tōzen-ji was of a suitable size and status. Japanese authorities were against the choice of Edo and advised Alcock to settle in Yokohama, especially as Tōzen-ji was located at the entrance to the Tōkaidō, the busiest and most important highway in Japan, and was therefore exposed to possible attacks. Alcock would not be deterred and the British legation was opened in 1859. In January 1860, Kobayashi Denkichi, the native interpreter of Rutherford Alcock, was murdered at the gate of the legation by two rōnin, foreshadowing further trouble which was to come. In May, Alcock returned to Edo from a visit to Nagasaki.