is a Buddhist temple in
Ichihara, Chiba
is a city, located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 274,117 in 128,316 households and a population density of 240 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is home, together with the city of ...
, Japan, belonging to the
Shingon-shu Buzan-ha
is a sect of Shingon Buddhism founded in the 16th century by the priest . The main Buzan-ha temple is Hase-dera in Sakurai, Nara.
Today the Buzan-ha sect has 3000 temples, 5000 priests and two million followers. Its largest chapters outside Japa ...
sect, and is the
provincial temple
were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794).
History
Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in each ...
("kokubunji") of former
Kazusa Province
was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. The province was located in the middle of the Bōsō Peninsula, whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa province ...
. The present temple is of uncertain foundation, but claims to be the direct descendant of the original
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 ...
''kokubunji'' temple which fell into ruins sometime in 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 ...
. The Nara-period temple ruins were designated a
National Historic Site in 1929, with the area under protection expanded in 1979 due to additional archaeological finds.
Overview
The ''
Shoku Nihongi
The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the ''Six National Histories'', coming directly after the '' Nihon Shoki'' and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi ...
'' records that in 741 AD, as the country recovered from a
major smallpox epidemic,
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 ...
ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in every
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
, the .
The Kazusa Kokubun-ji was located on the northern bank of the
Yōrō River
The is a river in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is in length and has a drainage area of . Under the Rivers Act of 1906 the Yōrō is designated as a Class 2 River. The Yōrō originates near Mount Kiyosumi on the border of Amatsukominato area of K ...
, in an area with a high concentration of ''
kofun
are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』 ...
'' and ancient sites. The ancient temple is mentioned in historical records to the
Oei era (1394-1427), but appears to have fallen into ruin after then. It was revived during 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 ...
during the
Genroku era (1688-1704) and the current main hall, a Yakushi-dō, was built in 1716 on the site of the old temple. The temple's
Niōmon also dates from the Edo period, but one of the statues within is a survivor from the
Nanboku-chō period.
Ancient Kazusa Kokubun-ji
The remains of original ''kokubunji'' overlap with the current temple precincts. The temple area for the ancient Kazusa Kokubun-ji is not square because there are valleys and burial mounds around it. Roughly, it measured 478 meters north-to-south by between 254 meters and 345 meters from east-to-west, for a total area of 139,000 square meters. The inner compound containing the main buildings of the temple was 219 meters north-to-south by 194 meters east-to-west, and unlike other ''kokubunji'' temples, did not adhere to the standardized layout, but was patterned instead after
Daian-ji
was founded during the Asuka period and is one of the Seven Great Temples of Nara, Japan.
History
The Nihon Shoki records the founding of the , predecessor of the Daian-ji, in 639 during the reign of Emperor Jomei. A nine-story pagoda was ...
in
Asuka
Asuka may refer to:
People
* Asuka (name), a list of people
* Asuka (wrestler), professional wrestler
* Asuka (wrestler, born 1998), professional wrestler also known as Veny outside of Japan
Places In Japan
* , an area in Yamato Province (now N ...
.
The site was located in 1929 with the discovery of large number of
roof tiles
Roof tiles are designed mainly to keep out rain, and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as terracotta or slate. Modern materials such as concrete, metal and plastic are also used and some clay tiles have a waterproof g ...
inscribed "kokubun-ji" in the location. An
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 ...
in 1966 confirmed the foundation stones for the
Kondō
Kondō, Kondo or Kondou (近藤 "near wisteria") is a surname prominent in Japanese culture, although it also occurs in other countries. Notable people with the surname include:
* , Japanese ballet dancer
* Dorinne K. Kondo, anthropologist
* Kon ...
, and Lecture Hall, and the middle gate as well as that of a
pagoda. From the size of the foundations for the pagoda, it is estimated that the completed structure was a seven-story building with a height of around 60-meters. The remains of a group of kilns for producing roof tiles were located in a survey conducted in 1974 to the west of the main temple complex.
The temple site is located a 15-minute walk from
Kazusa-Murakami Station on the
Kominato Railway
The is a railway line in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator . It extends from the west coast of central Bōsō Peninsula (where it connects with the Uchibō Line at ) to in the town of Ōtaki, Chiba, Ōtaki (wh ...
Kominato Line
The is a railway line in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator . It extends from the west coast of central Bōsō Peninsula (where it connects with the Uchibō Line at ) to in the town of Ōtaki (where it connect ...
.
See also
*
Provincial temple
were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794).
History
Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in each ...
*
List of Historic Sites of Japan (Chiba)
References
External links
Chiba Prefectural Board of Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazusa Kokubun-ji
Buddhist temples in Chiba Prefecture
Nara period
Ichihara, Chiba
History of Chiba Prefecture
Historic Sites of Japan
Kazusa Province
8th-century establishments in Japan
8th-century Buddhist temples
Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan