Gokoku-ji (Okinawa)

Gokoku-ji 護国寺
Entrance to main prayer hall. The mitsu-tomoe mon (crest) of the Ryukyuan royal family, and paulownia crest of the Japanese government can be seen flanking the doors.
Basic information
Location	1-25-5 Wakasa, Naha, Okinawa
Affiliation	Buddhism
Country	Japan
Architectural description
Founder	Raijū
Completed	1367

Gokoku-ji (護国寺^?, "Protection of the Nation Temple") is a Buddhist temple in Naha, Okinawa. Established in 1367, the temple served as a major national temple for the Okinawan kingdom of Chūzan and the unified Ryūkyū Kingdom which would follow. It is perhaps most well known for its associations with Christian missionary Dr. Bernard Jean Bettelheim and with the 1853-1854 visits by Commodore Matthew Perry to Okinawa.

The temple was first founded in 1367, by a Japanese monk from Satsuma province by the name of Raijū and with the patronage of the royal government of Chūzan, as a companion to the Naminoue Shrine already located on the bluff, overlooking the beach and ocean.

Centuries later, in 1846, the temple was taken over by the doctor and Christian missionary Bernard Jean Bettelheim, who occupied it for seven years, driving off Buddhist worshipers and the temple's rightful occupants. Working as a lay medical missionary under the auspices of the Loochoo Naval Mission, when Bettelheim's ship, HMS Starling, arrived at Naha, the Okinawan port master protested that he should not be allowed to disembark. HMS Starling's captain wished to honor this request, but Bettelheim made his way ashore anyway and ended up being offered shelter in the Gokoku-ji for that night; he would not leave for seven years. Turning away worshipers and monks alike by suggesting that they were trying to observe his wife, Bettelheim boarded up the temple's sanctuary and threw out much of what he called "the heathen furniture of idolatry".

The Ryukyuan royal government soon deemed it necessary to keep an eye on Bettelheim, who had become more than a nuisance, and a serious burden upon the local community. A guard post was erected just outside the temple grounds, and a detachment of men was assigned to both watch over the temple and to accompany the missionary as he traveled about the area.