Database: Gansen-ji

Kaizuka-gobo, or Gansen-ji, is a monastery of the Hongan-ji in the central part of Izumi Province, likely founded around 1550 by Shonyo, father of Kennyo. It saw rapid development as a temple town already by 1555 but was burned to the ground in 1577 by Oda Nobutada on the orders of his father, Nobunaga, at the beginning of the Saika campaign. Restoration of the monastery began after the peace agreement between the Hongan-ji and Nobunaga in 1580 and became the seat of the Kennyo between 1583 and 1585; the temple was called Kaizuka Hongan-ji during these two years. Its current name, Gansen-ji, was given in 1602 by Junnyo, who succeeded his father Kennyo as the head of the Hongan-ji sect.

After the end of the war against Nobunaga, Kennyo left Osaka Hongan-ji and settled in Saginomori-gobo in Kii Province in 1580. On the way, he passed through Kaizuka-gobo, which was being restored after the attack by Oda Nobutada (Nobunaga's heir) in 1577. In 1583, Kennyo relocated his seat, Hongan-ji, from Saginomori to Kaizuka. This move was in part to reassure Hashiba Hideyoshi, who was facing opposition from warriors of Saika and other holdouts from the Hongan-ji War now operating out of Negoro-ji temple in Kii Province. He stayed there for two years until he was invited by Hideyoshi to Osaka to found Tenma Hongan-ji in 1585. A journal kept by his secretary from 1580 to 1586 provides a better understanding of his good relationship with the feudal lords, Hideyoshi in particular, during the years he spent in Kaizuka.