Kencho-ji is the birthplace of kenchin-jiru, the popular vegetable and tofu soup that bears the temple's name and has become a staple of Japanese home cooking.

The temple's bronze bell, cast in 1255, is considered the most beautiful in all of eastern Japan and is designated a National Treasure.

At its peak in the late Kamakura period, nearly 1,000 monks lived here and the temple consumed 450-600 tons of rice annually—requiring such wealth that it sent trade ships to China to fund reconstruction.

Founded in 1253 as Japan's first Zen training monastery exclusively for Zen practice, it was established by inviting the Chinese monk Rankei Doryu directly from Song Dynasty China.