is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

in Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai, Japan. It belongs to the Shingon-shū Chizan-ha sect, and its ''

honzon , sometimes referred to as a Gohonzon ( or ), is the enshrined main image or principal deity in Japanese Buddhism. The buddha, bodhisattva, or mandala image is located in either a temple or a household butsudan. The image can be either a statue ...

'' is a '' hibutsu'' statue of Yakushi Nyōrai. It is the successor of the

provincial temple The are Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). The official name for each temple was Konkomyo Shitenno Gokoku-ji (Konkōmyō Shitennō ...

("kokubunji") of former Mutsu Province. The grounds of the temple are a National Historic Site. and one of its structures, the early

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

is an Important Cultural Property.{{{cite web , url=https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/102/123 , title=Database of Registered National Cultural Properties , publisher=

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The age ...

, accessdate=16 March 2011

Ancient Mutsu Kokubun-ji

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 and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as t ...

'' records that in 741, as the country recovered from a major smallpox epidemic,

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

ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in every

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, for the purpose of promoting Buddhism as the national religion of Japan and standardising control of imperial rule over the provinces.{{cite encyclopedia , encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Japan , title = Kokubunji , url = http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ , accessdate = 2012-05-04 , year = 2012 , publisher = Shogakukan , location = Tokyo , url-status = dead , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070825113418/http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ , archivedate = 2007-08-25 {{cite book , title=Hiraizumi: Buddhist Art and Regional Politics in Twelfth-Century Japan , pages=22f , author=Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall , publisher=

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, year=1998 In the late

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 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 capita ...

, after the establishment of a centralized government under the ''

Ritsuryō is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...

'' system, the imperial court sent a number of military expeditions to what is now the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of northern Japan to bring the local

Emishi The were a group of people who lived in parts of northern Honshū in present-day Japan, especially in the Tōhoku region. The first mention of the Emishi in literature that can be corroborated with outside sources dates to the 5th century AD, ...

tribes under its control.{{cite book , title=Cambridge History of Japan vol. II (p.31f.) , author=Shively, Donald H. , author2=McCullough, William H. , publisher=

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, year=1999 After the establishment of

Taga Castle was a ''jōsaku''-style Japanese castle built in the late Nara period in what is now part of the city of Tagajō in Miyagi prefecture in the Tōhoku region of far northern Honshu, Japan. Bashō tells of his visit to the site in ''Oku no Hosomi ...

, Yamato forces gradually pushed into the hinterland of what is now Miyagi Prefecture, establishing several fortified settlements along with several large-scale Buddhist temples. The Mutsu Kokubun-ji was located 9.5 kilometers from Taga Castle. The original design of the temple was a walled square area, 240 meters on a side, containing a large South Gate, Middle Gate,

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 *, man known for marrying a fictional vocal ...

, Lecture Hall,

Cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

Rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

and a seven-story

Pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

Kyōzō in Japanese Buddhist architecture is a repository for sūtras and chronicles of the temple history. It is also called , , or . In ancient times the ''kyōzō'' was placed opposite the shōrō, belfry on the east–west axis of the temple. The ea ...

Shōrō The two main types of bell tower in Japan The or is the bell tower of a Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temple in Japan, housing the temple's . It can also be found at some Shinto shrines which used to function as temples (see article ' ...

, Kuri, and dormitory. Excavations have revealed that this was one of the largest of the provincial temples. The temple was re-built 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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

after the 869 Sanriku earthquake; however, the pagoda was against destroyed in 934 AD, by lightning. Per the ''

Engishiki The is a Japanese book of laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ''Engishi ...

'' records of 927 AD, the temple was assigned revenues of 40,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' of rice for its upkeep. The temple was again destroyed in 1189, during the campaign of

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

against the

Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese noble family that ruled the Tōhoku region (the northeast of Honshū) of Japan during the 12th century as their own realm.

. Its subsequent history in the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

and

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

is somewhat uncertain, although a smaller temple continued to exist on the site. At some point during this period, it converted to the

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- ...

sect. Following the establishment of

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of ...

under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, Masamune Date rebuilt the complex from 1605 on a large scale, but not upon the original foundations. At one point, it was surrounded by 25 subsidiary chapels. However, following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, most of the temple was destroyed by the government's anti-Buddhism movement, leaving only one chapel, which is now the present-day Yakushi-dō. The grounds of the temple were extensively excavated from 1955 to 1959. The excavations revealed that the temple was built from the 740s to 750s, and was located just south of the ruins of a settlement now called the Minami Koizumi ruins. The buildings were all built on foundation stones with tiled roofs and cobblestone floors, with buildings which supported the daily life of the monks having stilt pillars and raised floors. The temple was surrounded by moats and wooden palisades in the manner of a fortress, and was most probably not a place for ordinary people to enter and worship. However, immediately outside the temple enclosure were numerous pit dwellings, presumably for ordinary people who had some connection with the temple. Within the temple enclosure, fragments of melted copper decorations confirmed the records of the destruction of the temple's pagoda in 934 by lightning. It was also found that the Edo Period Niō-mon gate was built on the foundation of the Nara-period South Gate, and that the Yakushi-dō was built on the foundations of the Nara-period Lecture Hall, indicating that although the temple had fallen almost into complete ruin by the early Edo Period, its location and layout were still known at that time. In the modern period, the ruins were neglected for many decades, with

roof tile Roof tiles are overlapping tiles designed mainly to keep out precipitation such as rain or snow, and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as clay or slate. Later tiles have been made from materials such as concrete, glass ...

s being unearthed and taken away by amateur archaeologists and collectors. the site received protection as a National Historic Site in 1922. In 1932, a local historian surveyed the exposed foundation stones and estimated that they were in the correct positions for a Nara period temple. The area was designed a scenic area by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1934. From 1955 to 1959, the site was excavated by

Tōhoku University is a public research university in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. It is colloquially referred to as or . Established in 1907 as the third of the Imperial Universities, after the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, it initially focused on scien ...

, and the foundations of all of the main buildings, and numerous previously unknown buildings were uncovered. File:Mutsu Kokubunji tou-ato.JPG, foundations of the Pagoda File:Mutsu Kokubunji tou shinso.JPG, foundations of the Pagoda File:Mutsu Kokubunji soubou-ato.JPG, foundations of the Rectory File:Mutsu Kokubunji shourou-ato.JPG, foundations of the Belfry File:Mutsu Kokubunji chumon-ato.JPG, foundations of the Middle Gate

Mutsu Kokubun-ji Yakushi-dō

Date Masamune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama period through the early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful feudal lords in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he w ...

, who built Sendai Castle in 1601, continued various civil works in his territory, of which reconstruction of the Mutsu Kokubun-ji was part of his policy of reconstructing famous temples in his territory, such as the reconstruction of Chuson-ji and

Zuigan-ji is a Rinzai Zen Buddhism, Buddhist temple in located in the town of Matsushima, Miyagi, Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Belonging to the Myōshin-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, it was founded in 828 during the Heian period by Ennin, Jikaku Da ...

The reconstruction work took three years from 1605 to 1607, and the new main hall of the reconstructed temple became the Yakushi-dō, which was completed in 1607.{{cite web , url=http://www.pref.miyagi.jp/bunkazai/siteibunkazai/miyagi-no-bunkazai/01kenzoubutu/kuni/08kokubunji.htm , title=Mutsu Kokubunji Yakushidō (in Japanese) , publisher=

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

, accessdate=16 March 2011 , url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120907040840/http://www.pref.miyagi.jp/bunkazai/siteibunkazai/miyagi-no-bunkazai/01kenzoubutu/kuni/08kokubunji.htm , archivedate=7 September 2012 , df= In 1903 this structure was designated an Important Cultural Property. The building houses the temple's ''

'', a bronze statue of Yakushi Nyōrai. The statue is a '' hibutsu'' image, and is only display only once a year. It is flanked by wooden Nikkō Bosatsu and Gakkō Bosatsu. An inscription within the Gakkō Bosatsu dates it to 1645; however, temple legend states that the statue of Yakushi Nyōrai is a surviving image from the original Nara-period temple. The chapel also contains

standing statues of

Fudō Myōō or Achala (, "The Immovable", ), also known as (, "Immovable Lord") or (, "Noble Immovable Lord"), is a wrathful deity and '' dharmapala'' (protector of the Dharma) prominent in Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism., Jp. rel. dict., ...

, Bishamon-ten and 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 Medicine Buddha Sutra or ''Bhaiṣajyaguruvaidūryaprabh ...

, all of which are Miyagi Prefectural Tangible Cultural Properties. {{{cite web , url=https://www.pref.miyagi.jp/soshiki/bunkazai/08fudou.html, title=指定文化財〈重要文化財〉木造不動明王坐像l , publisher=Miyagi Prefecture , accessdate=16 March 2011{{{cite web , url=https://www.pref.miyagi.jp/soshiki/bunkazai/19bisya.htmll , title=指定文化財〈県指定有形文化財〉木造毘沙門天立像 , publisher=Miyagi Prefecture , accessdate=16 March 2011{{{cite web , url=https://www.pref.miyagi.jp/soshiki/bunkazai/06jyuuni.html , title=指定文化財〈県指定有形文化財〉木造十二神将立像 , publisher=Miyagi Prefecture , accessdate=16 March 2011 The building itself is x 5 x 5 bay hall, with an ''irimoya-zukuri'' roof. The building is in the architecture of the Momoyama era, but the exterior is uncolored wood, which is very plain compared to other temples and shrines built by Date Masamune around this time. The interior is divided into two, with the altar having columns painted with gold leaf, sculptured, decorated, and painted in vivid colors in great contrast to the outside of the building. The

Niōmon is the Japanese name of a Buddhist temple gate guarded by two wooden warriors called Niō (lit. Two Kings). The gate is called Heng Ha Er Jiang (哼哈二将) in China and Geumgangmun (금강문) in Korea. The two statues are inside the two po ...

gate of the Yakushi-dō was also completed in 1607. It is a Miyagi Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property. {{{cite web , url=https://www.pref.miyagi.jp/soshiki/bunkazai/19mutukokubunji.html , title=指定文化財〈県指定有形文化財〉陸奥国分寺薬師堂仁王門 , publisher=Miyagi Prefecture , accessdate=16 March 2011 The Yakushi-do is also designated as a component of the Landscape of

Oku no Hosomichi , translated as ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and ''The Narrow Road to the Interior'', is a major work of ''haibun'' by the List of Japanese language poets, Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese liter ...

National Place of Scenic Beauty. {{{cite web , url=https://www.pref.miyagi.jp/soshiki/bunkazai/okunohosomichinofukeichi.html , title=指定文化財〈名勝〉おくのほそ道の風景地 , publisher=Miyagi Prefecture , accessdate=16 March 2011

References

{{Reflist

External links

{{Commons category, Mutsu Kokubun-ji *{{Official website, http://www.08943.com {{in lang, ja
Miyagi Prefecture Government site
{{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Mutsu Kokubun-ji Buddhist temples in Miyagi Prefecture Kokubunji Buildings and structures in Sendai History of Miyagi Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Places of Scenic Beauty Important Cultural Properties of Japan 8th-century establishments in Japan 8th-century Buddhist temples Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan 741 establishments Religious buildings and structures completed in the 740s Temples of Shingon-shū Chisan-ha Bettoji Temples Miyagi Prefecture designated tangible cultural property Temples of Bhaiṣajyaguru

Ancient Mutsu Kokubun-ji

Mutsu Kokubun-ji Yakushi-dō

See also

References

External links