''For other temples by similar names, see Zenrin-ji.'' Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji (永観堂禅林寺) is the head temple for the

Seizan is a branch of Jōdo-shū Buddhism that was founded by Hōnen's disciple, Shōkū. Shōkū often went by the name ''Seizan'' as well, however the name derives from the western mountains of Kyoto where Shōkū often dwelt. The main temple of this b ...

branch of Japan's

Jōdo-shū , also known as Jōdo Buddhism, is a branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Japanese ex-Tendai monk Hōnen. It was established in 1175 and is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jōdo Shi ...

(Pure Land) Buddhist sect, located in

Kyoto Kyoto (; 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 metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, Sakyō-ku. It was founded by Shinshō, a pupil of

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon sec ...

, and is famous for its

fall foliage Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normal green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn season, various shades of yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown. The phenomenon i ...

and for its prominence in the past as a center of learning.

Names

The temple is commonly referred to as either just "Eikan-dō" (永観堂, "View of Eternity Hall" or "Hall of Yōkan"Though the

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

「永観」 are typically read as ''Eikan'', this name actually derives from that of the seventh head of the temple, Yōkan, who wrote his name with those same characters.) or "Zenrin-ji" (禅林寺, "Temple of Forest of

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 ...

"). However, it also has two other names. "Shōju-raigō-san" (聖衆来迎山) translates roughly to "Mountain where the saints welcome you", while "Muryōsu-in" (無量寿院) means roughly "Temple of Immeasurable Life".

History

The temple got its start when Kūkai's pupil, the monk Shinshō, aspired to found a temple for the worship of the ''Gochi Nyorai'', or

Five Wisdom Buddhas 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

. In 853, he purchased the mansion of Fujiwara no Sekio for this purpose. The construction of temples was forbidden in Kyoto at the time, however, and so it was not until ten years later, when formal Imperial approval was granted by

Emperor Seiwa was the 56th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 清和天皇 (56)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Seiwa's reign spanned the years from 858 through 876.He was also the pre ...

, that the Zenrin-ji was formally founded. Though originally devoted 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 ...

sect, beginning in the time of

Yōkan is a wagashi (Japanese confection) made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar. It is usually sold in a block form, and eaten in slices. There are two main types: ''neri yōkan'' and ''mizu yōkan''. "Mizu" means "water", and indicates that it i ...

(永観, 1033-1111), the seventh head monk, the temple began to shift towards

, a sect formally established roughly a century later in 1175. Yōkan had trained in a number of temples of different disciplines in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

, and was a passionate devotee of the Amida Buddha. In 1072, he established a ''Yakuō-in'' (薬王院) on the grounds, which organized giving to the needy and caring for the ill. He also introduced the practice of ''

Nenbutsu Nianfo (, Japanese: , , vi, niệm Phật) is a term commonly seen in Pure Land Buddhism. In the context of Pure Land practice, it generally refers to the repetition of the name of Amitābha. It is a translation of Sanskrit '' '' (or, "recoll ...

'', a Chinese practice which was quite new in Japan, into the temple, and cultivated its observance among the monks and devotees. Zenrin-ji has grown famous for its unusual statue of the Amida Buddha, which looks over its shoulder, rather than straight ahead. In Japanese this is called the ''Mikaeri Amida''. According to tradition, at one point in 1082, when Yōkan was fifty, he and a number of monks were practicing a ritual, walking around the statue and reciting

sutras ''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 ...

when the statue of Amida came to life and stepped down from its dais. Yōkan halted the ritual in surprise; the Buddha looked over its shoulder at the monk, and said to him, "Yōkan you are slow". Ever since then, goes the story, the posture of this statue has remained in that position. Alternate versions of the story involve the Buddha joining the monks in a ritual dance. The twelfth head of the temple, Jōhen (1166-1224), originally a Shingon monk like the rest at Zenrin-ji, was a disciple of

Hōnen was the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called . He is also considered the Seventh Jōdo Shinshū Patriarch. Hōnen became a Tendai initiate at an early age, but grew disaffected and ...

, one of the founders of Jōdo-shū; Jōhen was thus the first head of Zenrin-ji to be a formal devotee of this emerging sect. He was succeeded as head monk by

Shōkū , sometimes called , was a disciple of Hōnen, founder of the Jōdo-shū Buddhist sect. Shōkū later succeeded Jōhen, another disciple of Hōnen, as the head of a former Shingon Buddhist temple, Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji, Eikandō, established a separ ...

(1177-1247), and it was under Shōkū's successor, Shōon (1201-1271), that the temple formally became devoted to ''Jōdo-shū''.

Grounds

The Zenrin-ji compound is nestled in Kyoto's Eastern Mountain (''Higashiyama''), and its buildings, most of them connected by covered walkways and staircases, are scattered among a range of heights. *Main gate - the ''Kōrai-mon'' (高麗門) is named after the ancient Korean kingdom of

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

(''Kōrai'' in Japanese). The current structure dates from the late Edo period (mid-19th century). *Inner gate - the ''Yakui-mon'' (薬医門), along with the ''Kōrai-mon'', derive from the fortress gates that would have surrounded the aristocratic mansion before it became a temple. Their placement and architecture are said to still reflect these origins today. The current structure dates to 1744. *Founder's Hall (御影堂, ''Goe-dō'') - enshrines and honors Hōnen, the founder of Jōdo-shū. The current structure was completed in 1912, and is larger than the Amida Hall. *Amida Hall (阿弥陀堂, ''Amida-dō'') - the famous Amida statue which is the central object of worship for the temple, is enshrined here. The hall is seated higher on the mountain than the Founder's Hall; the current structure was built at the beginning of the 17th century. *''

Tahōtō A is a form of Japanese pagoda found primarily at Esoteric Shingon and Tendai school Buddhist temples. It is unique among pagodas because it has an even number of stories (two). (The second story has a balustrade and seems habitable, but ...

'' - the temple's tower is situated at the highest point in the compound, and offers the greatest view of the scenery. The current structure was completed in 1928. *Zen Chief Priests' Chamber (方丈, ''Hōjō'') - despite Zenrin-ji's name, it is not a temple of

Buddhism; nevertheless, the compound includes this priests' chamber in the Zen style. Its construction is said to have been ordered by

Emperor Go-Kashiwabara was the 104th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from November 16, 1500, to May 19, 1526. His personal name was Katsuhito (勝仁). His reign marked the nadir of Imperial authority during the Ashikaga ...

(r. 1500-1526), but was not built until 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 ...

Treasures

In addition to the famous Amida statue, which is designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government, there are a great many cultural treasures stored in Zenrin-ji's ''Tahōtō''. These primary consist of

paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

of a variety of Buddhist subjects, including images of Amida, Shakyamuni,

Yakushi Nyorai Bhaiṣajyaguru ( sa, भैषज्यगुरु, zh, t= , ja, 薬師仏, ko, 약사불, bo, སངས་རྒྱས་སྨན་བླ), or ''Bhaishajyaguru'', formally Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja ("Medicine Master ...

, and the

Parinirvana In Buddhism, ''parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') is commonly used to refer to nirvana-after-death, which occurs upon the death of someone who has attained ''nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth a ...

of the Buddha. Paintings by Kanō Motonobu,

Tosa Mitsunobu was a Japanese painter, the founder of the Tosa school of Japanese painting. Born into a family that had traditionally served as painters to the Imperial court, he was head of the court painting bureau from 1493 to 1496. In 1518, he was appointe ...

, and

Hasegawa Tōhaku was a Japanese painter and founder of the Hasegawa school. He is considered one of the great painters of the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573-1603), and he is best known for his folding screens, such as ''Pine Trees'' and ''Pine Tree and Flow ...

are also kept by the temple. The wooden Amida statue is 77 cm in height, and though for a long time believed to date from 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 ...

(1185-1333), is now thought to have been carved somewhat earlier in the 12th century (

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. ...

, 794-1185). This change in dating came about with the comparison to

Song dynasty 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 ...

(960-1279) sculptures in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Province which show strong similarities in style. Zenrin-ji's Amida statue was formally named an Important Cultural Property in 1999.

Fall Foliage - Impressions

The temple is famous for its

and highly frequented by locals and tourists alike.
Kyoto Eikan-do Zenrin-ji Tempelgebäude Innen 10.jpg Kyoto Eikan-do Zenrin-ji Tempelgebäude Innen 01.jpg Kyoto Eikan-do Zenrin-ji Amida Hall Innen 2.jpg File:Eikan-do Zenrin-ji, November 2016 -01.jpg File:Eikan-do Zenrin-ji, November 2016 -02.jpg File:Eikan-do Zenrin-ji, November 2016 -03.jpg File:Eikan-do Zenrin-ji, November 2016 -04.jpg

Notes and reference

*''This article is derived largely from the corresponding one on the Japanese Wikipedia.''

External links

Official Site (Japanese)Google Maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eikando Zenrinji 9th-century Buddhist temples Buddhist temples in Kyoto Prefecture Monzeki