is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

of the

Sōtō school Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān L ...

in Bessho Onsen, Ueda,

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is the oldest Zen temple in Nagano Prefecture. The main hall (hon-dō) has a thatched roof and enshrines an image of

Sakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

flanked by

Manjusri Mañjuśrī (Sanskrit: मञ्जुश्री) is a ''bodhisattva'' associated with '' prajñā'' (wisdom) in Mahāyāna Buddhism. His name means "Gentle Glory" in Sanskrit. Mañjuśrī is also known by the fuller name of Mañjuśrīkumārab ...

and

Samantabhadra Samantabhadra (Lit. "All Good", or "Always Auspicious") may refer to: * Samantabhadra (Bodhisattva), a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with practice and meditation * ''Samantabhadra'' (Tibetan: ''Kuntu Zangpo''), the name of a Buddha, ...

as principal object of worship. Anraku-ji is best known for having the only extant octagonal

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

in Japan.

History

The origin of the temple is uncertain. The temple claims variously to have been established in the

Tenpyō was a after '' Jinki'' and before ''Tenpyō-kanpō.'' This period spanned the years from August 729 through April 749. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 729 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The p ...

era (729 - 749 AD) by

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, ...

, or during the

Tenchō was a after '' Kōnin'' and before '' Jōwa.'' This period spanned the years from January 824 through January 834. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * February 6, 824 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series o ...

era (824-834 AD) during the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

. During its early period, it belonged to the ''Ritsu'' sect. The temple is first mentioned in historical records during the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, when it was converted to the

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

sect by a monk from

Song China The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

who came to Japan on the same ship as the famous

Lanxi Daolong Lanxi Daolong ( zh, t=蘭溪道隆, s=兰溪道隆, first=t, p=Lánxī Dàolóng, w=Lan-hsi Tao-long; ja, 蘭渓道隆, Rankei Dōryū; c. 1213-1278), born in Sichuan Province, China in 1213 A.D. ( Southern Song Dynasty), was a famous Chinese B ...

of Kencho-ji in

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

. By the mid-13th century, Anraku-ji was the center of learning in

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

, educating many priests with the support of the

Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this period ...

until that clan was overthrown in 1333.

Buildings and cultural assets

Pagoda

The temple's three storied pagoda is the only extant octagonal pagoda in Japan. Built at the end of the Kamakura period in Zen style, its lowest roof is a ''

mokoshi In Japanese architecture , literally "skirt storey" or "cuff storey", is a decorative pent roof surrounding a building below the true roof. Since it does not correspond to any internal division, the ''mokoshi'' gives the impression of there being ...

'' pent roof enclosure. Its roofs are covered with

hinoki cypress ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' (Japanese cypress, hinoki cypress or hinoki; ja, 檜 or , ) is a species of cypress native to central Japan in East Asia, and widely cultivated in the temperate northern hemisphere for its high-quality timber and orname ...

shingles. The inside contains an octagonal Buddhist altar which together with the pagoda and a ''munafuda'' ridge tag with information on the building's construction has been designated as

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...

in 1952.

Statues of Enin and Isen

Two wooden seated statues of priests made in 1329 by a carpenter named Hyobu have been designated as Important Cultural Properties: One depicts Enin, a Chinese priest who came to Japan with Shōkoku Isen to become the second abbot of Anraku-ji; the other is of the Zen priest Isen, who went to study in China in the mid-Kamakura period and returned in 1246 together with Rankei Doryū, founder of

Kenchō-ji Kenchō-ji (建長寺) is a Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, which ranks first among Kamakura's so-called Five Great Zen Temples (the ''Kamakura Gozan'') and is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan.English pamphlet ...

. Unlike later sculptures, both show a high degree of realism. They are enshrined in the Denpō-dō (伝芳堂) hall.

Kyōzō

The temple includes a

Buddhist library The Buddhist Library () is the first dedicated Buddhist library in :Singapore. The library, which is located in a shophouse in Geylang, aims to meet the needs of the Buddhist community and anyone interested in Buddhism. It is unique in that it ...

after 1784. Built to store

sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...

s copied by the priest Tetsugen purchased from

Mampuku-ji is a Buddhist temple located in Uji, Kyoto. It is the head temple of the Japanese Ōbaku Zen sect, named after Wanfu Temple in Fujian, China. The mountain is likewise named after Mount Huangbo, where the Chinese temple is situated. History ...

, the building is square,

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...

ed and has a copper roof. Inside, it contains an octagonal revolving sutra shelf ('' rinzō'') said to have been designed by the . The building and ''rinzō'' have been designated as Cultural Assets of Ueda City.

Bell tower

Built in 1769 in a mix of Zen and Japanese style, the two-storey bell tower (''

shōrō The two main types of bell tower in Japan The or is the bell tower of a Buddhist temple in Japan, housing the temple's . It can also be found at some Shinto shrines which used to function as temples (see article '' Shinbutsu shūgō''), as ...

'') with a skirt like lower storey (''hakamagoshi'' type) is one of the largest in the area. The original

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

bell was used as scrap metal in World War II. The present bell was cast by Katori Masahiko in 1957.

Other

In 1693 important men of Shioda district decided to have Buddhas similar to those on the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage, so that they could acquire the same merit without going on a pilgrimage to

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

. They had statues made in Kyoto and distributed to various temples in Shioda. Out of 88 images, 7 are found at Anraku-ji. In addition, the temple owns a set of sixteen ''rakan'' (i.e. ''

arhat In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...

'') also from the

. A letter from Rankei Doryū to Shōkoku Isen written in

classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

showing the close relationship between the two is held by the temple:

References

{{Buddhist temples in Japan Buddhist temples in Nagano Prefecture Ueda, Nagano National Treasures of Japan Soto temples Important Cultural Properties of Nagano Prefecture