Renge-in Tanjō-ji (蓮華院誕生寺) is a Buddhist temple of the Shingon Risshu, or Shingon-Vinaya Buddhism,[1] in Tamana, Kumamoto Prefecture.

On the night of the 12th, the marching of the devotees from the Oku-no-in to the Main Temple with lanterns in hand, known as the Descent of the Dragon Fire (龍火下り, Ryūbi-kudari), takes place; a special service is held early next morning.

Kōen was born in Tsuji, Tamana-shō in Higo Province as a great-great-grandson of Kampaku Fujiwara no Michikane (藤原道兼).

Hōnen who founded Jōdo-shū, a major school of Pure Land Buddhism, was ordained under Kōen in his last years and became his disciple.

According to the biographies of Hōnen written in the latter part of the Kamakura period, on June 13, 1169, Kōen commenced tantric practice in the form of a draconic deity in Sakuraga-ike Pond in Enshū.

The Higo Chronicle written in the Edo period states that Taira no Shigemori ordered the construction of Jōkō-ji along with two five-ring stupas (五輪塔), the Great South Gate, and a nunnery named Myōshō-ji (妙性寺).

Since Shigemori, who was the eldest son of Taira no Kiyomori, was born in 1138 and died in 1179, Jōkō-ji seems to have been built during the last decades of the Heian period.

An excavation in the 1960s at the site of the present Main Hall revealed several Buddhist instruments from the Kamakura period.

In the early morning of December 10, while reciting sutras in a shanty on the former site of Jōkō-ji, he heard a voice telling him "I am the Acharya Kōen who, 760 years ago from now, was granted a draconic form at Sakuraga Pond in Enshū.

Although Zeshin, who was 34 years old at the time, had never heard either of Kōen or Sakuraga Pond, convinced of the gravity of the spiritual communication, he immediately commenced the restoration of the temple.

Based on this experience, he founded the nonprofit organization Association for Renge-in Tanjō-ji International Cooperation (ARTIC for short), devoted to providing the needy all around the globe with humanitarian aids.

He also founded the Committee for Raising Parent-caring Children, and advocated and encouraged a closer relationship between the parent and the child by inviting elementary and middle school students all over Japan to submit poems on their mothers.

The 14th Dalai Lama was invited in 2005 to perform the World Peace Homa Ceremony at the Main Temple and to give a lecture at the Oku-no-in.