is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple belonging to the

Shingon file:Koyasan (Mount Koya) monks.jpg, Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks suc ...

school of

Japanese Buddhism Buddhism has been practiced in Japan since about the 6th century CE. Japanese Buddhism () created many new Buddhist schools, and some schools are original to Japan and some are derived from Chinese Buddhist schools. Japanese Buddhism has had a ...

, located in the city of

Kōshū, Yamanashi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 31,526 in 13,147 households, and a population density of 120 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is the home of ...

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 ...

. Its main image is a ''

hibutsu are Japanese Buddhist icons or statues concealed from public view. ''Hibutsu'' are generally located within Buddhist temples in shrines called . They are generally unavailable for viewing or worship, although they are brought out for specific rel ...

'' statue of Yakushi Nyōrai, shown to the public every five years,

History

The temple claims to have been founded in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

by the monk

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, ...

; however, the style of the main image is from the early

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. ...

, and written records only exist to verify the reconstruction of the main hall in 971 AD. The temple was the clan temple of the Saigusa clan, an ancient ''

Gōzoku , in Japanese, refers to powerful regional families. In historical context, it can refer to powerful non-royal families regardless of their area of influence, in contrast to the Imperial Family. The most powerful ''gōzoku'' families of the Yamat ...

'' clan who controlled the eastern Kōfu basin. The temple was patronized by the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

in the

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 ...

, and in 1582,

Takeda Katsuyori was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period, who was famed as the head of the Takeda clan and the successor to the legendary warlord Takeda Shingen. He was son in law of Hojo Ujiyasu. Early life He was the son of Shingen by the daughter ...

, fleeing defeat at the

Battle of Tenmokuzan The 1582 in Japan, also known as the Battle of Toriibata, is regarded as the last stand of the Takeda clan. This was the final attempt by Takeda Katsuyori to resist the combined forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga, who had been campaign ...

Shinpu Castle was a Sengoku period ''hirayama''-style Japanese castle located in what is now part of the city of Nirasaki, Yamanashi prefecture. It was the primary fortress of the warlord Takeda Katsuyori. The ruins have been protected as a National Historic ...

at the hands of the armies of

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 ...

and

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, spent one night at this temple. The nun

Rikei was a Japanese noble lady, Calligraphy, calligrapher, poet and scholar. She was the eldest daughter of Katsunuma Nobutomo (勝沼信友), a samurai of the Sengoku period. She lived as a Bhikkhunī, Buddhist nun at Daizen-ji temple at Mount Kashi ...

subsequently wrote a history of the downfall of the Takeda clan, the "Rikei-ni no Ki", at this temple.

Cultural properties

National treasures

Daizen-ji Yakushi-dō

The main hall at Daizen-ji was built in 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 ...

by the ''

Shikken The was a titular post held by a member of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate, from 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, and so he was head of the ''bakufu'' (shogunate). It was part of the era referred to as . During rou ...

Hōjō Sadatoki was the ninth ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate (reigned 1284–1301), and ''tokusō'' (''de facto'' ruler of Japan) from his appointment as regent until his death. Born to the regent Tokimune and his wife from the Adachi family, ...

. It was completed in 1290 and is the oldest building in the prefecture. The building is approximately square in layout, with 18 meter long sides and a simple pyramidal roof. In front are doors in the three middle spaces between the columns, and lattice widows on either side. There is one additional door on each side and in the center of the back of the building. The columns have two-stage wooden capitals to support the roof. The building was extensively repaired in the early Edo period, and was completely taken apart, examined and reassembled in 1954. The building was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan on August 28, 1907 and the designation was upgraded to that of a

National Treasure of 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, Scien ...

on June 22, 1955. The altar within the building dates from 1355 and is also included within the National Treasure designation.

National Important Cultural Properties

Daizen-ji Yakushi Nyōrai

The main image of Daizen-ji, this seated image of Yakushi Nyōrai is carved from a single block of cherry wood and is coated with lacquer and gold leaf. From its style, it dates from the early Heian period. The state is 85.5 cm tall. It is flanked by two standing attendants, a Nikkō Bosatsu and a

Gakkō Bosatsu Candraprabha (lit. 'Moonlight', Chinese: 月光菩薩; pinyin: ''Yuèguāng Púsà''; Romanji: ''Gakkō or Gekkō Bosatsu'') is a bodhisattva often seen with Sūryaprabha, as the two siblings serve Bhaiṣajyaguru. Statues of Candraprabha ...

, both form the same period and both also carved from single blocks of wood, which the temple inexplicably refers to as Jizō Bosatsu in its home page. The statues were collectively designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan on April 4, 1905.

Daizen-ji Jūni Shinshō

The Yakushi Nyōrai of Daizen-ji is flanked by statues of the

Twelve Heavenly Generals In East Asian Buddhism, the Twelve Heavenly Generals or Twelve Divine Generals are the protective deities, or ''yaksha'', of Bhaisajyaguru, the buddha of healing. They are introduced in the ''Bhaiṣajyaguruvaidūryaprabharāja Sūtra''. They are ...

which date from the

. Each statue is from 138 to 145 cm tall, and are attributed to the sculptor Renkei, an artist of the

Kei school The was a Japanese school (style) of Buddhist sculpture which emerged in the early Kamakura period (c. 1200). Based in Nara, it was the dominant school in Buddhist sculpture in Japan into the 14th century, and remained influential until the 19th. ...

whose works are found at other temples in Kai Province. A couple of statues have the dates of 1227b and 1228. These statues were collectively designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan on June 7, 1999.

Daizen-ji Nikkō Bosatsu and Gakkō Bosatsu

In addition to the Nikkō Bosatsu and Gakkō Bosatsu which are part of the main image Yakushi Nyōrai, Daizen-ji has two larger statues of these divinities located outside the main altar, These statues were carved in the Kamakura period in the ''yosegi-zukuri'' technique with crystal inset eyes, and are in the style of the Kei school, and thus are contemporary with the statues of the Jūni Shinshō. The Nikkō Bosatsu is 248 cm tall, and the Gakkō Bosatsu is 247 cm tall. Inside, the statues were found to be stuffed with scrolls containing prayers and petitions from the Kamakura period. The statues and the documents found therein were collectively designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan in June 2007.

Intangible Cultural Property

The Wisteria Cutting Festival (藤切り祭) held every year on May 8 celebrates a mythological event in which En no Gyōja, a mountain ascetic, saved the lives of the local people by killing a large serpent. This festival is designated an intangible cultural asset.

Gallery

file:Daizen-ji-1.jpg, Daizen-ji panorama file:Daizen-ji-2a.jpg, Sanmon file:Daizen-ji-3.jpg, Rakuya-dō file:Daizen-ji-4.jpg, Hondō (Yakushi-dō) file:Daizen-ji-4b.jpg, Hondō (Yakushi-dō) file:Daizen-ji-4d.jpg, Hondō (Yakushi-dō) interior file:Daizen-ji-5.jpg, Gyōja-dō file:Daizen-ji-6.jpg, Belfry file:Daizen-ji-6a.jpg, Bell file:Daizen-ji-7.jpg, View of Katsunuma from Daizen-ji

References

{{reflist Buddhist temples in Yamanashi Prefecture Shingon Buddhism Kōshū, Yamanashi Kai Province National Treasures of Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan Temples of Shingon-shū Chisan-ha Temples of Bhaiṣajyaguru Yamanashi Prefecture designated tangible cultural property Prefecturally designated scenic spots