安国寺
安国寺は菊池氏の歴史の中で最も困難な時代のいくつかに関連している。この寺は足利幕府の創始者であり初代将軍である足利尊氏（1305-1358）の命により創建された。1336年、尊氏は朝廷と武家支配の推進派との対立で勝者となった。この内戦で菊池氏は朝廷側についたが、尊氏の軍に大敗を喫した。
1339年、尊氏は自らの支配を確実なものとした上で、敗れたライバルたちや鎌倉幕府滅亡後の戦乱で亡くなった人々の霊を慰めるため、すべての国に安国寺を建立するよう命じた。菊池氏が治める肥後国（現在の熊本県）では、既存の寺である寿勝寺が選ばれ、安国寺と改名された。
それから100年以上後、この寺は菊池一族にとって新たな悲劇の舞台となった。家臣たちによって失脚させられた元当主の菊池政隆（1491-1509）は地位を奪還しようとしたが、戦いに敗れた。政隆は安国寺に退き、寺が敵に焼かれる前に自害した。
安国寺は1515年に再建され、現在境内にある唯一の建物である本堂はその年のものである。菊池政隆の墓は本堂から少し離れた裏山のふもとにある。
Ankokuji Temple
Ankokuji Temple is associated with some of the most difficult times in the history of the Kikuchi clan. The temple was established on the orders of Ashikaga Takauji (1305–1358), the founder and first shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate. In 1336, Takauji had emerged as the winner in a conflict between the imperial court and proponents of warrior rule, a civil war in which the Kikuchi clan had sided with the court but suffered a crushing defeat by Takauji’s forces.
In 1339, with his rule secure, Takauji ordered a “temple for the Peace of the Country” (Ankokuji) to be built in every province to comfort the souls of his vanquished rivals and all those who had died in the wars that had followed the fall of the Kamakura shogunate, the previous warrior-led government. In the Kikuchi-governed Higo Province (present-day Kumamoto Prefecture), an existing temple called Jushoji was chosen and renamed Ankokuji.
More than a century later, the temple became the site of another tragedy for the Kikuchi clan. Kikuchi Masataka (1491–1509), a former leader of the clan who had been deposed by his retainers, attempted to retake his rightful position but was defeated in battle. Masataka retreated to Ankokuji, where he committed ritual suicide before the temple was burned down by his enemies.
Ankokuji was rebuilt in 1515, and its main hall—the only building on the grounds today—dates to that year. The tomb of Kikuchi Masataka is located at the foot of a hill some distance behind the hall.
