is the ecclesiastic head temple of
Kōyasan Shingon
is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō- ...
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, located on ,
Wakayama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Its name means ''Temple of the Diamond Mountain Peak''. It is part of the "
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range"
UNESCO World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
.
The
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
was first constructed as Seigan-ji Temple in 1593 by
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...
on the death of his mother, rebuilt in 1861, and given its present name in 1869. It contains many sliding screen doors painted by
Kanō Tanyū (1602-1674) and members of the
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
Kanō school
The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji era, Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided i ...
.
The temple's modern ''Banryūtei'' (蟠龍庭 rock garden) is Japan's largest (2340 square meters), with 140 granite stones arranged to suggest a pair of dragons emerging from clouds to protect the temple.
The 414th abbot of Kongōbu-ji is the Reverend Kogi Kasai, who also acts as the archbishop of the Kōyasan Shingon school.
At the temple, visitors can listen to the sermons of the monks and participate in ''ajikan'' meditation sessions. The term ''ajikan'' refers to a fundamental breathing and meditation method of
Shingon Buddhism
is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō-j ...
: "meditating on the letter A" written using the
Siddhaṃ alphabet.
page on the Ajikan
with references.
Gallery
File:Kongobuji Koyasan07n3200.jpg, Approach
File:Koyasan Danjogaran Fudodo.JPG, Fudōdō,
a National Treasure
File:Kongobuji Temple, Koyasan, Japan - Banryutei rock garden.JPG, Banryūtei rock garden
File:Eight Attendants I Kongobuji.jpg, Eight Attendants
File:Eight Attendants II Kongobuji.jpg, Eight Attendants
File:Miniature Buddhist shrine Kongobuji.jpg
File:Seitaka Doji Kongobuji.jpg, Seitaka Doji
See also
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (temples)
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (ancient documents)
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (paintings)
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (sculptures)
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (writings)
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (crafts-others)
*
Tourism in Japan
References
Japan Visitor article* Alison Main, Newell Platten, ''The Lure of the Japanese Garden'', W. W. Norton & Company, 2002, page 46. .
* Dorothy Perkins, ''Encyclopedia of Japan: Japanese History and Culture, from Abacus to Zori'', "Kongobuji" article, Facts on File, 1991, page 182. .
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kongobu-ji
Buddhist temples in Wakayama Prefecture
816 establishments
Religious buildings and structures completed in the 810s
9th-century establishments in Japan
National Treasures of Japan
Important Cultural Properties of Japan
World Heritage Sites in Japan
Historic Sites of Japan
Kūkai
Kōyasan
Wakayama Prefecture designated tangible cultural property