Nishi Hongan-ji
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Nishi Hongan-ji
is a Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist temple in the Shimogyō ward of Kyoto, Japan. It serves as the head temple of the sub-sect Honganji-ha. It is one of two Jōdo Shinshū temple complexes in Kyoto, the other being Higashi Hongan-ji, which is the head temple of the sub-sect Ōtani-ha. Established in its current location in 1591, the origin of the temple goes back to the 14th century. Many of its building have survived from the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo period, making it a great example of the Japanese architecture from the 17th and 18th centuries. A total of seven Nishi Hongan-ji structures have been designated National Treasures in three different categories: the karamon, Goei-dō and Amida hall ( temple buildings), the Flying Cloud Pavilion, shoin and the Black study hall, including the Denrō gallery (residences) and the north Noh stage ( miscellaneous structure). Nishi Hongan-ji was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, as part of the Historic Monuments of An ...
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Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto
is one of the eleven wards in the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. First established in 1879, it has been merged and split, and took on its present boundaries in 1955, with the establishment of a separate Minami-ku. Kyoto Tower and Kyoto Station are major landmarks in Shimogyō-ku. Shijō Street on the northern edge of the area, especially around the Shijō Kawaramachi intersection, is the busiest shopping district in the city. Kyoto Station has an extensive shopping center, including a department store in the station building, and the underground Porta mall. Shimogyō-ku has a population of 82,784 and an area of 6.78 km². Three rivers, Horikawa, Kamogawa and Takasegawa pass through the ward. Demographics Economy Omron, a global electronic components and automation manufacturer is headquartered in the ward. * Takara Holdings, a company mainly involved in the production of beverages and medical supplies * Tose, a video game and mobile game development co ...
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List Of National Treasures Of Japan (residences)
The term "National Treasures of Japan, National Treasure" has been used in Japan to denote Cultural Properties of Japan, cultural properties since 1897. The items are selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology based on their "especially high historical or artistic value". This list presents 14 entries of residential structures from 15th-century feudal Muromachi period to the early modern 17th-century Edo period. The structures listed include Japanese teahouse, teahouses, ''shoin'', guest or reception halls and other rooms which are part of Japanese domestic architecture, while most of the structures are located in temples, one is a castle. In 2009, the early 20th century Akasaka Palace was designated as National Treasure in the category of "modern residences" (Meiji period and later). Because it is the only National Treasure in this category, it is listed together with the 14 ...
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Yoshizaki-gobō
The was a Buddhist temple located in what is the Yoshizaki neighbourhood of the city of Awara, Fukui, Japan. It is known for its connection to Rennyo, the founder of the Ikkō sect of Japanese Buddhism. The ruins of the temple were designated a National Historic Site in 2012. Overview In 1457, Rennyo was appointed as the eighth chief abbot of Hongan-ji, on the outskirts of Kyoto. Under Rennyo's leadership, Hongan-ji began to expand the teachings of Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism to areas beyond the capital. However, the rapid growth of Hongan-ji was met with hostility by the orthodox Tendai sect based at Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei, and in 1465, Hongan-ji was destroyed by militant monks from Enryaku-ji and Rennyo was forced to flee Kyoto. In 1471, he re-established Hongaki-ji at the small village of Yoshizaki on the border of Echizen Province with Kaga Province. This rectory, known as the "Yoshizaki-gobō" was the location from which he sent out many epistles explaining the te ...
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Sōhei
were Buddhist warrior monks of both classical and feudal Japan. At certain points in history, they held considerable power, obliging the imperial and military governments to collaborate. The prominence of the ''sōhei'' rose in parallel with the ascendancy of the Tendai school's influence between the 10th and 17th centuries. The warriors protected land and intimidated rival schools of Buddhism, becoming a significant factor in the spread of Buddhism and the development of different schools during the Kamakura period. The ''sōhei'' shared many similarities with the European lay brothers, members of a monastic order who might not have been ordained. Much like the Teutonic Order, the warrior monks of Holy Roman Empire, and the crusading orders, ''sōhei'' did not operate as individuals, or even as members of small, individual temples, but rather as warriors in a large extended brotherhood or monastic order. The home temple of a ''sōhei'' monastic order might have had severa ...
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Mount Hiei
is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures, Japan. The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by Saichō in 788 and rapidly grew into a sprawling complex of temples and buildings that were roughly divided into three areas: # The area near the summit, and technically in Kyoto Prefecture. # The area, also near the summit, where Enryaku-ji Temple was first founded, and located just within Shiga Prefecture. # The area near the northernmost end of Mount Hiei. Due to its remoteness, as a temple complex it experienced periods of revival and decline, starting with Ennin, later revived by Ryōgen and made famous by the scholar-monk Genshin. Due to its position north-east of the ancient capital of Kyoto, it was thought in ancient geomancy practices to be a protective bulwark against negative influences on the capital, which along with the r ...
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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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Rennyo
Rennyo (, 1415–1499) was the 8th Monshu (head priest) of the Hongan-ji Temple of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, and descendant of founder Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Buddhists often referred to as the restorer of the sect ( in Japanese). He was also known as ''Shinshō-in'' (信証院), and posthumously ''Etō Daishi'' (慧灯大師). During the conflict of the Ōnin War and the subsequent warfare that spread throughout Japan, Rennyo was able to unite most of the disparate factions of the Jodo Shinshu sect under the Hongan-ji, reform existing liturgy and practices, and broaden support among different classes of society. Through Rennyo's efforts, Jodo Shinshu grew to become the largest, most influential Buddhist sect in Japan. Rennyo is venerated along with Shinran, and liturgical reforms he implemented are still in use today in Jodo Shinshu temples. Further, Rennyo's letters were compiled and are still recited in Jodo Shinshu liturgy. Rennyo maintained a complex relationsh ...
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Monshu
The Monshu (門主), or ''keeper of the gate'' is a term sometimes used in Japanese Buddhism to denote the head of a monastery, as in the case of Jōdo-shū and Tendai Buddhism, but in the case of the Nishi Hongan-ji sub-sect of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism, it refers to the spiritual leader of the sect, and direct descendant of its founder Shinran. Jōdo Shinshū The Monshu in Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism was the guardian of Shinran's mausoleum, as well as the head of the sect. This position was started when the youngest daughter of Shinran, Kakushinni, installed her son as the custodian of the small shrine which held Shinran's image and ashes at Ōtani, in Kyoto. In time the small shrine grew into what is now the Hongan-ji temples (east and west). When the temple split into two temples, the West Temple, or ''Nishi Honganji'' continued to use the term Monshu, while the East Temple, or ''Higashi Hongan-ji'' gradually adopted the term "Hossu". In the line of Monshu descendants, no ...
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Kakunyo
Kakunyo (覚如) (1270-1351) is the great-grandson of Shinran, founder of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism, and the third caretaker, or Monshu of the family mausoleum, which gradually became the Hongan-ji Temple in Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ..., Japan. He was responsible for being the first to compile information about Shinran's life, and formalizing the new Jōdo Shinshū sect, while re-asserting power at the mausoleum away from Shinshu followers in the Kantō region. Kakunyo was an avid writer whose liturgies comprise an important part of Jōdo Shinshū services, while his biography on Shinran, the is still an important source for scholars. Mahayana Buddhists Jōdo Shinshū Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist priests Kamakura period Buddhist clergy {{buddhism ...
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Shinran
''Popular Buddhism in Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture'' by Esben Andreasen, pp. 13, 14, 15, 17. University of Hawaii Press 1998, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino (now a part of Fushimi, Kyoto) at the turbulent close of the Heian Period and lived during the Kamakura Period. Shinran was a pupil of Hōnen and the founder of what ultimately became the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Japanese Buddhism. Names Shinran's birthname was Matsuwakamaro. In accordance with Japanese customs, he has also gone by other names, including Hanen, Shakku and Zenshin, and then finally Shinran, which was derived by combining the names of Seshin (Vasubandhu in Japanese) and Donran ( Tanluan’s name in Japanese). His posthumous title was Kenshin Daishi. For a while, Shinran also went by the name Fujii Yoshizane. After he was disrobed, he called himself Gutoku Shinran, in a self-deprecating manner which means "stubble-haired foolish one," to denote his status as "neither a monk, nor a ...
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Hongan-ji
, also archaically romanized as Hongwanji, is the collective name of the largest school of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism (which further sub-divides into the Nishi and Higashi branches). 'Hongan-ji' may also refer to any one of several actual temple buildings associated with the sect. Early history The Hongan-ji was established as a temple in 1321, on the site of the Ōtani Mausoleum, where Shinran, the founder of the Jōdo Shinshū ("True Pure Land") was buried. The mausoleum was attended by Shinran's grandson (through daughter Kakushinni), Kakue. Kakue's own son, Kakunyo, became the first chief priest of the Hongan-ji and third monshu (spiritual leader), and dedicated it to the worship of Amitābha (''Amida''). The Hongan-ji first gained power and importance in the 15th century, when Rennyo became its eighth monshu. However, the Tendai sect based on Mount Hiei saw this expansion as a threat and attacked the Hongan-ji three times with its army of sōhei. Rennyo fled to Yoshizaki-gobō ...
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Historic Monuments Of Ancient Kyoto
The UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) encompasses 17 locations in Japan within the city of Kyoto and its immediate vicinity. In 794, the Japanese imperial family moved the capital to Heian-kyō. The locations are in three cities: Kyoto and Uji in Kyoto Prefecture; and Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture; Uji and Ōtsu border Kyoto to the south and north, respectively. Of the monuments, 13 are Buddhist temples, three are Shinto shrines, and one is a castle. The properties include 38 buildings designated by the Japanese government as '' National Treasures'', 160 properties designated as '' Important Cultural Properties'', eight gardens designated as ''Special Places of Scenic Beauty'', and four designated as ''Places of Scenic Beauty''. UNESCO listed the site as World Heritage in 1994. Selection criteria Kyoto has a substantial number of historic buildings, unlike other Japanese cities that lost buildings to foreign invasions and war; ...
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