is a

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 m ...

school

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 ...

in the town of Hidakagawa,

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

, it has given its name to a number of

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

, most notably the Noh drama '' Dōjōji''. The temple has numerous

statues A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

which are designated National Treasures, or Important Cultural Properties, as well as several structures with the Important Cultural Property designation. The precincts of the temple were designated a National Historic Site in 2013.

History

Although the foundation of the temple is not completely documented, it claims to have been founded in 701 AD at the request of

Emperor Monmu was the 42nd emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 文武天皇 (42) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Monmu's reign spanned the years from 697 through 707. Traditional narrative Befo ...

, with the monk Gien (643-728) as its founder. According to folklore, Emperor Monmu acted on behalf of his wife, Fujiwara no Miyako, the mother of

Emperor Shōmu was the 45th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, during the Nara period. Traditional narrative Be ...

. According to this legend, Fujiwara no Miyako was born to a family of ''ama'' fishermen in what is now the city of

Gobō, Wakayama 270px, Hongan-ji Hidaka-betsuin is a city located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 22,401 in 10822 households and a population density of 520 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography G ...

. Her parents were without children for many years but in response to fervent prayers to

Hachiman In Japanese religion, ''Yahata'' (八幡神, ancient Shinto pronunciation) formerly in Shinto and later commonly known as Hachiman (八幡神, Japanese Buddhist pronunciation) is the syncretic divinity of archery and war, incorporating elements f ...

, were gifted with a daughter; however the daughter was born completely bald. The village suffered from poor fishing, which they attributed to a mysterious light which had appeared at the bottom of the bay. Fujiwara no Miyako's mother, thinking that her daughter's affliction was due to some sins of a previous life, jumped into the water, intending to sacrifice herself to save the village. However, at the bottom of the bay she saw that the mysterious light was coming from a golden statue of

Kannon Bosatsu Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...

, which she brought back to the surface. Afterwards, fishing returned to normal, and in a dream, Kannon appeared to her, and she asked for her daughters affliction to be cured. Soon afterwards, Fujiwara no Miyako grew thick strands of beautiful black hair. One day, as she was brushing her hair, a sparrow (or swallow) flew in, picked up some stray strands of hair and which it used to build a nest in the eaves of the mansion of

Fujiwara no Fuhito Fujiwara no Fuhito (藤原不比等: 659 – 13 September 720) was a powerful member of the Imperial Court in Kyoto, imperial court of Japan during the Asuka period, Asuka and Nara periods. Second son of Fujiwara no Kamatari (or, according ...

, a powerful political figure in the imperial administration. On finding the long, beautiful hair, he sought out the owner, a welcomed Fujiwara no Miyako as his adopted daughter. She later caught the eye of the prince who would later become Emperor Monmu. However, as empress, she could not forget her hometown in

Kii Province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

and especially the statue of Kannon Bosatsu which she left behind, so she petitioned her husband to have a temple built. This legend was told in 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. ...

and was subsequently re-told with many variations into the

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 ...

. While the legend remains folklore,

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s have found traces of the layout of the original temple, and

roof tile A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

s to the early 8th century. Several excavations have been conducted since 1978 and the foundations of the Nara period Main Hall, Pagoda, Middle Gate, Lecture Hall, and

Cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

have been found. The cloister extended from the left and right sides of the Middle Gate and surrounded the site in a rectangular shape to the left and right sides of the Lecture Hall. Within the courtyard, the pagoda was to the east and the Main Hall was to the west. A Senjū Kannon statue was discovered during the dismantling and reconstruction of the Main Hall of the temple in 1985 and was found to be a Nara period work. Most of the surviving Buddhist statues at the temple date from the early to mid-Heian period, which appears to be the peak of the temple's property. The existing Main Hall was completed in 1357. The temple went into decline from the

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 t ...

and was largely burned down during

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

's conquest of Kii Province in 1585 (during which time the temple bell was looted). In 1655, the Main Hall was repaired by

Tokugawa Yorinobu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Born under the name Nagatomimaru (長福丸), he was the 10th son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, by his concubine Kageyama-dono. On December 8, 1603, Yorinobu received the fief of Mito, then rated at 20 ...

, the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of

Kishū Domain , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Prov ...

, and during the Edo period, structures such as a Niomon and a Three-story Pagoda were restored.

Cultural Properties

Buildings

Hondō Main hall is the building within a Japanese Buddhist temple compound ('' garan'') which enshrines the main object of veneration.Kōjien Japanese dictionary Because the various denominations deliberately use different terms, this single English t ...

(1357); 7x5

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, single-storey, ''

irimoya-zukuri The East Asian hip-and-gable roof (''Xiēshān'' (歇山) in Chinese, ''Irimoya'' (入母屋) in Japanese, and ''Paljakjibung'' (팔작지붕) in Korean) also known as 'resting hill roof', consists of a hip roof that slopes down on all four sides ...

'', tiled roof; ( Important Cultural Property) *

Niōmon is the Japanese name of 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 regio ...

(1694); 3

, single-door ''

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 Shin ...

'', ''irimoya-zukuri'', tiled roof; ( Important Cultural Property) * Three-storey pagoda (1763) ( Prefecturally-designated Cultural Property) *

Shoin is a type of audience hall in Japanese architecture that was developed during the Muromachi period. The term originally meant a study and a place for lectures on the sūtra within a temple, but later it came to mean just a drawing room or stu ...

(1702) ( Prefecturally-designated Cultural Property)

Statuary

* (

) (

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 ...

) * (

) ( National Treasures) * (

) ( Important Cultural Property) * (

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

) ( Prefecturally-designated Cultural Property)

Other

* , two scrolls (

) ( Important Cultural Property) *

Dōtaku are Japanese bells smelted from relatively thin bronze and richly decorated. Dotaku were used for about 400 years, between the second century B.C. and the second century C.E. (corresponding to the end of the Yayoi era), and were nearly only use ...

(

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

) ( Prefecturally-designated Cultural Property)

Anchin and Kiyohime

The

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

of the monk and his spurned lover who, devoured by her passion and jealousy, turns into a

serpent Serpent or The Serpent may refer to: * Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes Mythology and religion * Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature * Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts * Serp ...

and pursues him to his destruction, is the subject of the

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

play '' Dōjōji'', known for the rare prominence of its dramatic

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

, the temple bell; as well as the

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

play ''

Musume Dōjōji ''Kyōganoko Musume Dōjōji'' (京鹿子娘道成寺), commonly called ''Musume Dōjōji'' (娘道成寺, "''The Maiden at Dojoji Temple''"), is a kabuki dance drama. It is the oldest surviving Noh-based Kabuki dance drama, which tells the story ...

'' with its long ''

onnagata (also ) are male actors who play female roles in kabuki theatre. History The modern all-male kabuki was originally known as ("male kabuki") to distinguish it from earlier forms. In the early 17th century, shortly after the emergence of the g ...

buyō''.

References

External links

*
Dōjō-ji - homepage
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dojo-Ji Buddhist temples in Wakayama Prefecture Pagodas in Japan Tendai temples Important Cultural Properties of Japan Hidakagawa, Wakayama Religious organizations established in the 7th century