Kanteibyo: Burned Three Times, Built FourFrom a single wooden statue to the heart of Chinatown

Kanteibyo, the dazzling temple at the center of Yokohama Chinatown. Today’s building is actually the fourth.

Who is enshrined at Kanteibyo?

The main deity is Guan Yu (Lord Guan), the general famous from the Three Kingdoms.

Guan Yu is said to have been skilled not only in war but also in managing money, even inventing a bookkeeping method, and in China he is worshipped as a god of business. For generals and merchants alike, loyalty and trust matter most. That is why a merchant town enshrines him.

It began with a single wooden statue

In 1862, shortly after Yokohama opened, a Chinese man is said to have carried a wooden statue of Guan Yu to this spot and opened a small shrine.

In 1871, a full temple, the first Kanteibyo, was built with donations from Chinese residents. It was expanded in 1886 and extensively renovated in 1891 as a brick temple.

Some sources date its beginning to 1873. This article follows the temple’s own history and City of Yokohama records.

Lost three times, rebuilt each time

Kanteibyo has been lost three times. Each time, the people of Chinatown worked together to rebuild it.

• 1923The first temple collapses and burns in the Great Kanto Earthquake
• 1925Second temple rebuilt
• 1945Second temple destroyed in an air raid
• 1947Third temple completed
• 1986Third temple burns on New Year’s Day (cause unknown)
• 1990August 14: the current fourth temple opens

The temple’s own history dates the third temple to early summer 1947; the Yokohama Chinatown official site gives 1946. This article follows the temple’s own record.

The fourth temple was built with materials such as carved dragon stone brought from Beijing, by craftsmen invited from Beijing and Taiwan.

Kanteitan: Guan Yu’s birthday

The 24th day of the sixth lunar month is Guan Yu’s birthday, celebrated with a festival called Kanteitan. The Western date changes every year; in 2026 it was August 6. A portable shrine is carried through Chinatown.

Records show it was already held in the early Meiji era, and in 1910 a large celebration was marked with commemorative postcards. Large processions later disappeared, but in 1991, the year after the fourth temple was completed, the “first revived Kanteitan” brought it back as a festival for all of Chinatown.

How to pray

Buy incense and gold paper at the reception, then offer one stick of incense at each of the five burners, numbered 1 to 5, around the main hall in order.

When making a wish, it is said to be important to tell the god your address, name and date of birth. Some worshippers kneel with their hands together before the altar. The gold paper is an offering and a thank-you for wishes granted: place it on the offering table in the main hall, then burn it in the gold furnace at the end.

The 1st and 15th days of each lunar month are considered days when the gods gather, and lines sometimes form before the gates open.

This article is an English edition of the Japanese original.