is a Buddhist

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 temple in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It is assumed to be the purported location of the ashes of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian freedom-fighter, which have been preserved since September 18, 1945.

The small, well-preserved temple was established in 1594 inspired by the God of Wealth and Happiness. It belongs to the Nichiren

Nichiren Buddhism

Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren...

 sect of Buddhism that believes that human salvation lies only in the Lotus Sutra

Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sūtra is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sūtras, and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-Title:...

.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

The ashes of Subhas Chandra Bose came to the temple for the purpose of a funeral ceremony but Rev. Mochizuki, father of the present chief monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

, agreed to keep them in safe custody. Bose's funeral was held at 8:00 p.m. on September 18, 1945. Netaji’s associates observe his death anniversary on August 18 at the temple every year. Over the years, several Indian officials have visited Renkoji to pay their respects to Subhas Chandra Bose: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...

 was the first dignitary to visit the site in October 1957. President Dr. Rajendra Prasad followed him a year later. Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...

 visited in 1969. Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian statesman who served as the tenth Prime Minister of India three times – first for a brief term of 13 days in 1996, and then for two terms from 1998 to 2004. After his first brief period as Prime Minister in 1996, Vajpayee headed a coalition government from...

, former Prime Minister of India, first visited the temple during his term as Foreign Minister. He later visited it during his official visit to Japan on December 9, 2001. In 2000, the then Indian Minister of External Affairs, Jaswant Singh

Jaswant Singh

- Career :He is one of the few Indian politicians to have been the Minister for Defence, Finance and External Affairs.He started the new government of Vajpayee, which lasted its full term, as the External Affairs Minister and later on switched his ministry to Finance with Yashwant Sinha...

, visited the temple in November.

The ashes of Netaji are placed in a small golden pagoda.

Controversy

The Justice Mukherjee Commission

Mukherjee Commission

The Mukherjee Commission refers to the one-man board of Mr. Justice Manoj Mukherjee , a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India which was instituted in 1999 to enquire into the controversy surrounding the reported death of Subhas Chandra Bose in 1945....

 of Inquiry submitted its report to the Indian Government on November 8, 2005. The report was tabled in Parliament on May 17, 2006. The probe said in its report that as Bose did not die in the plane crash, and that the ashes at the Renkoji Temple

Renkoji Temple

is a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan. It is assumed to be the purported location of the ashes of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian freedom-fighter, which have been preserved since September 18, 1945....

 are not his. However, the Indian Government rejected the findings of the Commission, though no reasons were cited.

See also

• Mission Netaji
  Mission Netaji
  Mission Netaji is a Delhi based Indian non-profit trust, conducting research on Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Mission Netaji mainly looks into the circumstances of disappearance of Netaji. Mission Netaji runs the websites www.missionnetaji.org and www.subhaschandrabose.org...
  
  
• For an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhist art, and Japanese Buddhist temple architecture, see the Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
  Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
  This is the glossary of Japanese Buddhism, including major terms the casual reader might find useful in understanding articles on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk are illustrated by an image in one of the photo galleries...
  
  .