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)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２月(１３６７年)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、墓地には箱館発展のもとを築いた高田屋一族の墓、新島襄の海外渡航を助け日本最初の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の碑など、著名な人の墓がある。

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 the 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. The main building of the temple was destroyed by fire in 1879. Two years later it was relocated to its current location. It was damaged by fire several more times before being rebuilt with reinforced concrete in 1929. In its grounds are monuments to Masamichi Kono and the members of Shinsen-gumi, and memorial services are regularly held in honour of them. There is a monument to honor Kahei Takadaya, 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 Takadayas, who helped in the progress of early Hakodate; Naritoyo Fukushi, who assisted Jyo Niijima to go abroad and who established Japan's first meteorological observatory; and Seiroku Tsutsumi, the founder of the Nichiro Fishery Corporation. City of Hakodate

土方歳三(新撰組副長)は、榎本軍に加わり、函館で戦死した。 その場所は一本木(若松町)、鶴岡町、栄国橋(十字街)など諸説があるが土方ゆかりの東京都日野市金剛寺の過去帳には、 函館称名寺に供養碑を建てた、と記している。 称名寺は、明治期の大火で３回も焼けて碑は現存しないため、昭和４８年有志が現在の碑を建立した。 他の４名は新撰組隊士で、称名寺墓地に墓碑があったが、昭和２９年の台風で壊されたため、この碑に名を刻んだ。

THE MEMORIAL MONUMENT FOR TOSHIZO HIJIKATA AND SHINSENGUMI MEMBERS

After joining Enomoto's army, Toshizo Hijikata (deputy leader of Shinsengumi) was killed in the battle in Hakodate. Opinions are divided regarding the exact location of his burial; Ippongi in Wakamatsu-cho, Tsuruoka-cho, or Eikokubashi in Jujigai. A record taken from the Kongoji Temple in Hino, Hijikata's hometown in present-day suburban Tokyo, only noted that Hijikata's memorial monument was erected in Shomyoji Temple in Hakodate. The monument did not survive three fires during the Meiji era, and the present monument was erected in 1973 by volunteers. Four other names of Shinsengumi members', whose tombstones in Shomyoji Temple were destroyed during a typhoon in 1953, were also engraved on the monument. こうのかがのかみまさみち

河野政通は伊予(愛媛県)の出で、享徳３年(１４５４年)に渡来し、今の基坂の上に館を築いた。 この辺はアイヌ語でウスケシ(湾の端の意)といったが、 この館が箱の形をしていたのでハコダテの地名が生まれたといい、明治2年までは「箱館」と書いた。

永正９年(１５１２年)、子季通の時アイヌに攻められ館は陥ちた。 この碑は、宝暦３年(１７５３年)に松前藩の亀田奉行が建て、表面に「捐館高峰院殿加屋凌雲大居士神儀」と刻み、 裏面に碑文がある。

KONO KAGANOKAMI MASAMICHI MEMORIAL Masamichi Kono, originally from lyo in present-day Ehime Prefecture, came to Hakodate in 1454 and built a large mansion on Motoizaka hill at the foot of Mt. Hakodate. Although the Ainu people called this area Usukeshi, an edge of a bay, the mansion looked like a box giving the area its name Hakodate, a box house. Up until 1869 Chinese characters RE (box house) for Hakodate was used. In the time of his successor-son Suemichi, in 1512, the mansion was attacked by the Ainu and fell to them. The monument was erected in 1753 by Kameda Magistrate of Matsumae clan. The front engrave reads「捐館高峰院殿加屋凌雲大居士神儀」 and an epigraph is engraved on the back.

高田屋嘉兵衛は明和６年(１７６９年)淡路島に生まれ、廻船を業とし、寛政１０年(１７９８年)箱館大町に支店を設けた。 以来、弟金兵衛と力を合わせ、千島エトロフの開発と共に巨富をもって箱館の殖産興業に多大な業績を残した。 日露両国間の問題解決に努力したのも有名で、その顕彰碑は観音堂前にある。 郷里で没したから墓は淡路にもあるが、金兵衛の系統が函館に住んだので、称名寺にも墓が建てられた。

THE GRAVE OF KAHEI TAKADAYA'S FAMILY

Kahei Takadaya was born in Awajishima in 1769. A shipping entrepreneur, he opened a branch in Hakodate Omachi in 1798. Ever since, together with his younger brother Kimbei, Kahei exerted himself to the development of fishing grounds in Chishima-Etrup, and with the accumulated fortune contributed greatly to the economic and industrial development of Hakodate. Kahel is also known to have played an important role in the solution of a territorial problem between Russia and Japan. A monument in honour of his great service was erected in front of Kannon-do. Although Kahei was buried in his hometown in Awaji, as Kimbei's descendants lived here, his grave was also built in Shomyoji Temple in Hakodate.

函館市 City of Hakodate

高田屋嘉兵衛顕彰碑

高田屋嘉兵衛（１７６９−１８２７）は淡路の人。２８歳のとき渡来し、５０で皈国するまで、 箱を根拠地として北海の天地に活躍した。 初めてエトロフ島への海路を開き、１７の漁場を作って北海漁業の先駆をなし、 又箱館に大店舗を構え、奉行所松前移轉後もエトロフ、幌泉、根室場所の漁獲物の集散と仕込物資の調達をになって、 箱館の繁栄を築き、更にゴロウイン拘囚のとき、沈着剛胆よく日露の側を奔走して無事釈放につとめ、 永く露国感謝せられた。 今年嘉兵衛の百四回忌に当り、高田屋まつりを行い、この碑を建ててその功績を顕彰する。

境内　案内板より