Zuigan-ji claims an origin date of 828, ordered into existence by Emperor Junna and established by the monk Jikaku Daishi during the Heian period. The story appears in the Tendai-ki, a chronicle written centuries later during the Nanboku-cho period. It is a compelling foundation myth. It is also almost certainly false. Archaeological excavations at the temple site have revealed that during the Heian period, this particular patch of Matsushima was occupied by a salt furnace -- an industrial operation incompatible with monastic life. Whatever temple Jikaku Daishi may have founded in the region, the evidence says it was not here. The Tendai-ki also claims patronage by the Northern Fujiwara clan and describes meetings between Zuigan-ji priests and legendary figures like Minamoto no Yoshitsune, but these too rely on sources written long after the fact.

In the Kamakura period, the temple underwent a transformation that both Tendai and Zen records describe in unusually dramatic terms. Under the authority of regent Hojo Tokimune, Zuigan-ji was converted from a Tendai sect temple to Rinzai Zen, with the Chinese-born monk Rankei Doryu installed as head priest. The conversion was not peaceful. According to the historical accounts, it involved military force and the violent expulsion of the Tendai monks who had occupied the temple. The new Zen establishment earned ranking among the Kanto Jissetsu -- the ten most important Zen temples in the Kanto region. But fire eventually consumed the buildings, and by the end of the Sengoku period of civil war, Zuigan-ji lay in ruins. It would take a warlord with extraordinary resources and even more extraordinary ambitions to bring it back.

Date Masamune was not a man who did things modestly. When he decided to rebuild Zuigan-ji beginning in 1604, he imported lumber from Mount Kumano in distant Wakayama Prefecture and brought skilled craftsmen from Kyoto and Kii Province. The reconstruction took five years and produced buildings in the flamboyant Momoyama style -- rich with gold-leaf fusuma paintings, ornate carvings, and a Main Hall that would be designated a National Treasure in 1953. The 161 sliding door paintings that survive in the Main Hall depict scenes on gold backgrounds with raised motifs floating on golden clouds. The temple also houses hidden Buddha statues -- hibutsu -- that are revealed to the public only once every 33 years. Carved from single blocks of keyaki wood during the Heian period, these five figures include a seated Fudo Myoo with wide-open eyes and seven ties in his pigtail.

The Meiji Restoration stripped the temple of most of its territory and income, and many buildings crumbled beyond saving. But Zuigan-ji endured. The Crown Prince visited in 1918; Emperor Hirohito came in 1947. A museum opened in 1974 to house approximately 30,000 artifacts, including objects unearthed during excavations. Major repairs ran from 2008 to 2018. When the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck, the same Matsushima Bay islands that inspired centuries of poetry also broke the wave's force, sparing the temple from severe structural damage -- though the gardens sustained some harm. Today, Zuigan-ji sits five minutes on foot from Matsushima-Kaigan Station, its gate opening onto a cedar-lined path. Each November, the Basho Festival commemorates the haiku poet's 1689 visit, connecting the temple to the literary pilgrimage that helped make Matsushima famous.