is a
Buddhist temple in
Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai
is the eastern ward of the city Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the ward had a population of 138,102 and a population density of 2715 persons per km² in 63583 households. The total area of the ward was .
Geography
Wakabayashi-ku is l ...
, Japan, belonging to the
Shingon-shū Chizan-ha 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 eac ...
("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 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 characte ...
is an
Important Cultural Property.
Ancient Mutsu Kokubun-ji
The ''
Shoku Nihongi'' records that in 741, 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
...
ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in every
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
, the .
In the late
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 c ...
, after the establishment of a centralized government under the ''
Ritsuryō
, , is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (律令制). ''Kyaku'' (格) are amendments of Ritsuryō, ''Shiki'' ...
'' system, the
Yamato 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 (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata.
Tōhoku reta ...
of northern Japan to bring the local
Emishi tribes under its control.
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 Hosom ...
, 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
* Dorinne K. Kondo, anthropologist
* Kond ...
, Lecture Hall,
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 ...
s,
Rectory and a seven-story
Pagoda
A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to 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 sometimes Taoist, ...
,
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 belfry on the east–west axis of the temple. The earliest ex ...
,
Shōrō
The two main types of bell tower in Japan
The or is the bell tower of a 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 '' Shinbutsu shūgō''), as ...
,
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 Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...
after the
869 Sanriku earthquake
__NOTOC__
Year 869 ( DCCCLXIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Summer – Emperor Basil I allies with the Frankish emperor L ...
; however, the pagoda was against destroyed in 934 AD, by lightning. Per the ''
Engishiki
The is a Japanese book about 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
In 905, Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of th ...
'' records of 927 AD, the temple was assigned revenues of 40,000 ''
koku'' 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 of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...
against the
Northern Fujiwara. Its subsequent history in 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 ...
and
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 ...
is somewhat uncertain, although a smaller temple continued to exist on the site. At some point during this period, it converted to the
Shingon
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 such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra.
Kn ...
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 the i ...
under the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
,
Masamune Date
was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made al ...
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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
, most of the temple was destroyed by the government's
anti-Buddhism movement, leaving only one chapel at the present-day Yakushi-do,
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
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 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, 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, who built
Sendai Castle
260px, Layout of Aoba Castle
is a Japanese castle located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Aoba Castle was home to the Date clan, ''daimyō'' of Sendai Domain. The castle was also known as or as . In 2003, the ca ...
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 Dai ...
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.
In 1903 this structure was designated an
Important Cultural Property.
The building houses the temple's ''
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 o ...
'', a bronze statue of
Yakushi Nyōrai. The statue is a ''
hibutsu
are Japanese Buddhist icons or statues concealed from public view. ''Hibutsu'' are generally located within Buddhist temples in shrines called . They are generally unavailable for viewing or worship, although they are brought out for specific rel ...
'' image, and is only display only once a year. It is flanked by wooden
Nikkō Bosatsu and
Gakkō Bosatsu
Candraprabha (lit. 'Moonlight', Chinese: 月光菩薩; pinyin: ''Yuèguāng Púsà''; Romanji: ''Gakkō or Gekkō Bosatsu'') is a bodhisattva often seen with Sūryaprabha, as the two siblings serve Bhaiṣajyaguru. Statues of Candraprabha ...
. An inscription within the Gakko 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 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.
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 eac ...
*
Mutsu Kokubun-niji
*
List of Historic Sites of Japan (Miyagi)
This list is of the Historic Sites of Japan located within the Prefecture of Miyagi.
National Historic Sites
As of 1 December 2020, thirty-seven Sites have been designated as being of national significance (including one *Special Historic Sit ...
References
External links
*
Miyagi Prefecture Government site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutsu Kokubun-ji
Buddhist temples in Miyagi Prefecture
Nara period
Buildings and structures in Sendai
History of Miyagi Prefecture
Historic Sites of Japan
Important Cultural Properties of Japan
8th-century establishments in Japan
8th-century Buddhist temples
Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan
Religious buildings and structures completed in 741