Honganji Sakai Betusuin

The largest wooden construction in Sakai City, and affectionately known as
the "Monk of the North." The current main hall is a reconstruction that was
built in 1825. It was used as the Sakai Prefectural Office for 10 years after
the abolition of clans and establishment of prefectures in 1871, before being
returned to the Shinshu Honganjiha branch of Buddhism and becoming a
designated historical site as the "Site of the Sakai Prefectural Office."

After the Meiji Restoration Sakai Prefecture was only the old Tenryo lands,
but between 1869 and 1876 it combined with Kawachi prefecture, Tannan
prefecture, Nara prefecture, and others to become one of the largest in the
Kinki region. While Sakai prefecture possessed expansive lands and
conducted their own unique prefectural policy, the governmental policy
for the expansion of Osaka meant that in 1881 their prefectural lands were
combined with Osaka, bringing an end to Sakai's history as a prefecture.
The temple grounds and buildings were then returned to the Shinshu
Honganjiha branch of Buddhism, in the possession of which they remain
to this day, but it also became a designated historical site as the "Site of
the Sakai Prefectural Office." The temple bell in the bell tower bears an
inscription dated 1617, which reads that after the burning of Nenbutsuji
(the temple shrine of Aguchi Shrine) during the Osaka Summer Campaign
in 1615, the bell was recast at the behest of the Sakai officials who worked
so hard to restore the city and find its new role. It was moved to the Sakai
Betsuin along the anti-Buddhist movement at the beginning of the Meiji
era (1868-1912), but it remains a prized artifact, not only commemorating
the history of the resurrection of Sakai at the start of the Edo period
(1603-1867) and also as the oldest dated temple bell in the city, but it is a
city designated tangible cultural property. As it was created to resemble
the previous bell, destroyed in the fires of conflict, it is characterized by
a shape closely resembling that of a middle-ages bell.