Chōjū-ji
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Chōjū-ji
is a Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temple in the city of Konan, Shiga, Konan, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. It belongs to the Tendai school of Japanese Buddhism. Its honzon, main image is a ''hibutsu'' statue of Kṣitigarbha, Jizō Bosatsu. Its Main Hall (Japanese Buddhism), Hondō is a National Treasure (Japan), National Treasure.:Shiga Prefecture List of Cultural Properties
It is also referred to as , whereas the temple of is referred to as .


History

The history of Chōjū-ji is uncertain, as the documentary evidence of its foundation has been lost. The temple's legend states that it was founded by Rōben at the request of Emperor Shōmu during the Tenpyō era (729-749), into order to project the spiritually vulnerable northeastern quadrant from Shigaraki Palace, a ...
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Tendai
, also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese monk Saichō ( posthumously known as Dengyō Daishi). The Tendai school, which has been based on Mount Hiei since its inception, rose to prominence during the Heian period (794-1185). It gradually eclipsed the powerful ''Hossō'' school and competed with the rival Shingon school to become the most influential sect at the Imperial court. By the Kamakura period (1185-1333), Tendai had become one of the dominant forms of Japanese Buddhism, with numerous temples and vast landholdings. During the Kamakura period, various monks left Tendai (seeing it as corrupt) to establish their own "new" or "Kamakura" Buddhist schools such as Jōdo-shū, Nichiren-shū and Sōtō Zen. The destruction of the head temple of Enryaku-ji by Oda Nobunaga in 1571, ...
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National Treasure (Japan)
Some of the National Treasures of Japan A is the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (a special body of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). A Tangible Cultural Property is considered to be of historic or artistic value, classified either as "buildings and structures" or as "fine arts and crafts." Each National Treasure must show outstanding workmanship, a high value for world cultural history, or exceptional value for scholarship. Approximately 20% of the National Treasures are structures such as castles, Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, or residences. The other 80% are paintings; scrolls; sutras; works of calligraphy; sculptures of wood, bronze, lacquer or stone; crafts such as pottery and lacquerware carvings; metalworks; swords and textiles; and archaeological and historical artifacts. The items span the period of ancient to early modern Japan before the ...
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Konan, Shiga
280px, Zensui-ji in Konan is a city located in southern Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 54,607 in 24305 households and a population density of 780 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Konan, as its name implies, is south of Lake Biwa in the center of the southern portion of Shiga Prefecture The city does not actually border the lake. The Ansei Mountains are in the south of the city and the Iwane Mountains in the north, with the Yasu River running from east-to-west through the center. Neighboring municipalities Shiga Prefecture * Yasu * Rittō *Kōka *Ryūō Climate Konan has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Konan is 14.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1430 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in J ...
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Rōmon
The is one of two types of two-storied gate used in Japan (the other one being the ''nijūmon'', see photo in the gallery below). Even though it was originally developed by Buddhist architecture, it is now used at both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Its otherwise normal upper story is inaccessible and therefore offers no usable space. It is in this respect similar to the ''tahōtō'' (a two-storied pagoda) and the multi-storied pagoda, neither of which offers, in spite of appearances, usable space beyond the first story. In the past, the name also used to be sometimes applied to double-roof gates. This extremely common single-roof gate was developed from the double-roofed ''nijūmon'', replacing the flanking roof above the first floor with a very shallow balcony with a balustrade that skirts the entire upper story. Therefore, while the ''nijūmon'' has a series of brackets ('' tokyō'') supporting the roof's eaves both at the first and at the second story, in the ''rōmon' ...
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Azuchi Castle
was one of the primary castles of Oda Nobunaga located in the Azuchi neighborhood of the city of Ōmihachiman, Shiga Prefecture. The site of the castle was designated a National Historic Site in 1926, with the designation upgraded to that of a Special National Historic Site in 1952. The castle is located within the grounds of the Biwako Quasi-National Park. Azuchi Castle was built from 1576 to 1579 on Mount Azuchi on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province. Nobunaga intentionally built Azuchi Castle close enough to Kyoto that he could watch over and guard the approaches to the capital, but outside Kyoto so his fortress would be immune to the fires and conflicts that occasionally consumed the city. Azuchi Castle's location was also strategically advantageous in managing the communications and transportation routes between Nobunaga's greatest foes – the Uesugi to the north, the Takeda in the east, and the Mōri to the west.Ōrui, N. and M. Toba (1935). Castles in Japa ...
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Rittō, Shiga
270px, Ritto Horse Training Center 270px, Otsuki Taisha ''honden'' is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 70,312 in 29068 households and a population density of 1300 persons per km². The total area of the city is . It is well known to Japanese horse racing fans because it is home to one of the two Japan Racing Association's training centers and the famous jockey brothers, Yutaka Take and Koshiro Take who were also born in Rittō. Geography Located in the southern part of Shiga prefecture, Rittō is located on Japan's main transportation arteries. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen, JR Tōkaidō Main Line, Meishin Expressway, Shin-Meishin Expressway, Japan National Route 1 and Japan National Route 8 all pass through the city. The opening of highway interchanges and new train station has led to increasing urbanization, as the city is within commuting distance of Kyoto and Osaka, and is relatively close to Nagoya to the east. About half of ...
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Sōken-ji
is a Buddhist temple located in the Azuchi neighborhood of the city of Ōmihachiman in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Its mountain name is . The temple belongs to the Myōshin-ji branch of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. History Sōken-ji was erected within the grounds of Azuchi Castle by Oda Nobunaga in the Tenshō era (1573-1591). The head priest was the third son of Oda Nobuyasu, lord of Iwakura Castle in Owari province, who was from a cadet branch of the clan. Rather than build new structures, Oda Nobunaga relocated existing structures from other temples and shrines which caught his eye. Specific surviving examples include the Niōmon gate, which was originally from Kashiwagi Jinja in Kōka and the Three-story Pagoda which was originally at Chōju-ji, also in Kōka. Both structures are now designated National Important Cultural Properties The temple survived the destruction of Azuchi Castle after the assassination of Nobunaga in 1582. During the Edo period, it had e ...
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Japanese Pagoda
Multi-storied pagodas in wood and stone, and a ''gorintō'' Pagodas in Japan are called , sometimes or and historically derive from the Chinese pagoda, itself an interpretation of the Indian ''stupa''. Like the ''stupa'', pagodas were originally used as reliquaries but in many cases they ended up losing this function. Pagodas are quintessentially Buddhist and an important component of Japanese Buddhist temple compounds but, because until the Kami and Buddhas Separation Act of 1868, a Shinto shrine was normally also a Buddhist temple and vice versa, they are not rare at shrines either. The famous Itsukushima Shrine, for example, has one. After the Meiji Restoration the word ''tō'', once used exclusively in a religious context, came to mean also "tower" in the western sense, as for example in . Of the Japanese pagoda's many forms, some are built in wood and are collectively known as , but most are carved out of stone (. Wood pagodas are large buildings with either two stor ...
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Gyōki
was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-dera, a temple in Nara, at the age of 15 and studied under Dōshō as one of his first pupils. Gyōki studied Yogacara (唯識), a core doctrine of Hosso, at Yakushi-ji. In 704, he returned to his birthplace to make his home into a temple, then started to travel around Japan to preach to commoners and help the poor. He formed a volunteer group to help the poor mainly in the Kansai region, building 49 monasteries and nunneries that also functioned as hospitals for the poor. Gyōki and his followers roamed the countryside, teaching common people about Buddhism, building temples that were more like community centers and organizing irrigation and other public works projects. Since regulations at the time strictly prohibited activities by priests ou ...
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Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify Japan in the 1560s. Nobunaga emerged as the most powerful ''daimyō'', overthrowing the nominally ruling shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and dissolving the Ashikaga Shogunate in 1573. He conquered most of Honshu island by 1580, and defeated the ''Ikkō-ikki'' rebels in the 1580s. Nobunaga's rule was noted for innovative military tactics, fostering of free trade, reforms of Japan's civil government, and the start of the Momoyama historical art period, but also for the brutal suppression of those who refused to cooperate or yield to his demands. Nobunaga was killed in the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582, when his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide ambushed him in Kyoto and forced him to commit . Nobunaga was succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who along with Toku ...
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Sengoku Period
The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various samurai warlords and Japanese clans, clans fought for control over Japan in the power vacuum, while the emerged to fight against samurai rule. The Nanban trade, arrival of Europeans in 1543 introduced the arquebus into Japanese warfare, and Japan ended its status as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of China in 1549. Oda Nobunaga dissolved the Ashikaga shogunate in 1573 and launched a war of political unification by force, including the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War, until his death in the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582. Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi completed his campaign to unify Japan and consolidated his rule with numerous influential reforms. Hideyoshi launched the Japanese invasions of Korea (159 ...
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Muromachi Period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ''shōgun'', Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336) of imperial rule was brought to a close. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga. From a cultural perspective, the period can be divided into the Kitayama and Higashiyama cultures (later 15th – early 16th centuries). The early years from 1336 to 1392 of the Muromachi period are known as the '' Nanboku-chō'' or Northern and Southern Court period. This period is marked by the continued resistance of the supporters of Emperor Go-Daigo, the emperor behind the Kenmu Restoration. The Sengoku period or Warring States period, which begi ...
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