270px, Graves of Ii clan is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple belonging to the Myōshin-ji branch of the

Rinzai school The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan E ...

Japanese Zen :''See also Zen for an overview of Zen, Chan Buddhism for the Chinese origins, and Sōtō, Rinzai school, Rinzai and Ōbaku for the three main schools of Zen in Japan'' Japanese Zen refers to the Japanese forms of Zen, Zen Buddhism, an orig ...

. located in

Kita-ku, Hamamatsu is one of seven wards of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan, located in the north of the city. It is bordered by Tenryū-ku to the north, Higashi-ku and Naka-ku to the east, Hamakita-ku Minami-ku and Kosai to the south, and the cities of Toyohashi ...

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is the head temple of one of fourteen autonomous branches of the Rinzai school. Its main image 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 ...

'' statue of Kokūzō Bosatsu. The temple, including its famed

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

is not open to the general public.

History

The early history of the temple is uncertain, and the temple claims to have been founded in 733 AD by the famed

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 ...

monk Gyōki as a temple called Jizo-ji (地蔵寺). The temple has been long associated with the Ii clan, as per Ii family records, the clan itself originated when a baby boy was found by the monks beside a well at the temple in the year 1010 AD. The monks raised the infant, who later took the name of Ii Tomoyasu, and who became the progenitor of the Ii clan. His funeral was held at the temple in 1093, and the temple subsequently served as the '' bodaiji'' of the clan. During the Nanboku-chō period, Prince Muneyoshi who led the effort of the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors (Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitively ...

against the forces of Ashikaga Takauji in this area is said to have died in the Iinoya valley where this temple is located and was buried at Ryōtan-ji (although this claim is challenged by a location in

Nakatsugawa, Gifu Magome-juku on the Nakasendō is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 78,930, and a population density of 120 persons per km2 in 30,788 households The total area of the city was . Geography Nakatsugawa is in ...

). The temple changed its name to its present name in 1507. During the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, the funeral of

Ii Naomori was a retainer of the Japanese Imagawa clan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. During the Battle of Okehazama in 1560, Naomori was killed while trying to protect his lord, Imagawa Yoshimoto during the attack led by Oda Nobunaga, who su ...

was held at this temple in 1560. The graves of

Ii Naochika was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period, who served the Imagawa clan. It was planned that he would marry Ii Naomori's daughter Naotora but then he fled to Shinano, to avoid committing suicide caused by slander from an Imagawa retainer. Lat ...

and

Ii Naotora Ii Naotora (井伊直虎, d. 12 September 1582) was a daimyō of the Sengoku period. She was the daughter and only child of Ii Naomori, the eighteenth head of their clan. She was primarily the head of Ii clan and retainer of the Imagawa clan, becau ...

are also at this temple. The temple was burned down during an invasion by the Takeda clan in 1570, and was rebuilt 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 ...

. After the establishment of 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 ...

, the Ii clan was transferred to Ōmi Province; however, the temple received a fief of properties from the shogunate to compensate it for the loss of its patrons.

Cultural properties

Important cultural properties

Song dynasty encyclopedia

Ryōtan-ji has a set of three books (宋版錦繍万花谷 ) from South Song China, which were printed in 1188. These are three surviving volumes from an encyclopedia which was once owned by

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

. One of Nobunaga's sons became a monk at this time. The books were designated Important Cultural Properties in 1978.

National Place of Scenic Beauty

Ryōtan-ji gardens

250px, Ryōtan-ji gardens The

on the north side of the Main Hall dates from the early Edo period, and was designed by

Kobori Enshu Kobori (written: 小堀) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese artist and aristocrat *, Japanese tennis player *, Japanese ice hockey player *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese voice actress *, ...

. It consists of an arrangement of rock formations and ponds. It was designated as a National Places of Scenic Beauty of Japan in 1954.

References

External links

Hamamatsu city official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryotan-ji Buddhist temples in Shizuoka Prefecture Buildings and structures in Hamamatsu Myoshin-ji temples Tōtōmi Province Places of Scenic Beauty Important Cultural Properties of Japan Temples of Ākāśagarbha Shizuoka Prefecture designated tangible cultural property