The is a

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

in the city of

Ebina, Kanagawa is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan., the city had an estimated population of 136,312 and a population density of 5100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Ebina is located approximately 50 kilometers from centr ...

, Japan. It 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

Sagami Province was a province of Japan located in what is today the central and western Kanagawa Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kanagawa''" at . Sagami Province bordered the provinces of Izu, Musashi, and Suruga. It had access to the Paci ...

. The grounds of the temple are a National Historic Site. and its

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 ...

Bonshō , also known as or are large bells found in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, used to summon the monks to prayer and to demarcate periods of time. Rather than containing a clapper, are struck from the outside, using either a handheld mall ...

'' is an Important Cultural Property. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times over its long history, and much of its documentary history has been lost. It now belongs to the

Kōyasan Shingon-shū is a Japanese sect of Shingon Buddhism. Headquartered on Mount Kōya in Wakayama Prefecture, it is also the oldest and largest of the eighteen Shingon sects in Japan. The main temple is Kongōbu-ji is the ecclesiastic head temple of Koyasan ...

sect.

Ancient Sagami 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 '' Nihon Shoki'' and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi ...

'' 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 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 . These temples were built to a semi-standardized template, and served both to spread Buddhist orthodoxy to the provinces, and to emphasize the power of the

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 ...

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 origins of the Sagami Kokubun-ji are a mystery, as it is located a considerable distance from the

provincial capital A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the g ...

of Sagami, which was at Kōzu, As the temple follows a layout patterned after

Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is , or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as both a seminary and monastery. The temple wa ...

, which predates the semi-standardized ''kokubunji'' format, it was long speculated that this was an existing temple which had been converted into a ''kokubunji''. However, there is no archaeological evidence to support this hypothesis. Another theory was that the original ''kokubunji'' was located near

Odawara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in the far western por ...

, where a large ruined temple complex has been discovered. However, the

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 excavated from the Sagami Kokubun-ji site date from the middle of the 8th century, which corresponds to the construction period ordered by Emperor Shōmu. Another theory is that the temple was built at the original location of the provincial capital, which was later re-located. The Sagami Kokubun-ji and the Sagami ''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

'' are located in Kōza District, so it is possible that the Sagami provincial capital (whose exact location has not yet been positively identified) was also located in this area. Per ancient records, the temple was destroyed by a fire in 819, and suffered considerable damage and burned during again in 878 after a large earthquake. Per the ''

Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku , abbreviated as Sandai Jitsuroku, is an officially commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 901, it is the sixth and final text in the Six National Histories series. It covers the years 858–887. Background Following the earlier nation ...

'', it was rebuilt in 881 and it is mentioned in the ''

Nihon Kiryaku is a historical text that categorizes and chronologizes the events listed in the ''Six National Histories is a general term for Japan's Six National Histories chronicling the mythology and history of Japan from the earliest times to 887. The six ...

'' in 940; however, there is no archaeological evidence indicating that it was actually rebuilt after the 878 earthquake, so it may have been relocated to another site which has yet to be discovered. The name reappears in the historical record in 1008, when it was listed in an inventory of the governor of Sagami Province, Taira Takayoshi, and again in 1139, when

Emperor Sutoku was the 75th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 崇徳天皇 (75)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Sutoku's reign spanned the years from 1123 through 1142. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chry ...

authorized it as a ''chokugan-ji'' to pray for the well-being of the nation. It was rebuilt in 1186 by

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 ...

and the ''

Azuma Kagami is a Japanese historical chronicle. The medieval text chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō (the 6th shōgun) and his return to Kyoto in 12 ...

'' records that

Hōjō Masako was a Japanese politician who exercised significant power in the early years of the Kamakura period, which was reflected by her contemporary sobriquet of the "nun shogun". She was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo, and mother of Minamoto no Yorii ...

sent a donation of horses in 1192 to pray for safe childbirth. After the

, the temple disappears from history again for long periods, and by the start of 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 ...

was reduced to a small Yakushi-dō chapel. This chapel was rebuilt in 1713, but was destroyed in a fire in 1910. This was rebuilt in 1910, 1974 and again in 1994.

Current Situation

The current Sagami Kokubun-ji has a

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 ...

, a guest hall, and a bell tower. According to the temple legend, the principal image Yakushi Nyorai attributed to

Gyōki was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-dera, ...

, but it is clearly a

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 ...

work. The only other import historical relic at the temple is its bell, with an engraving that it was donated by "Kokubun Jiro Minamoto no Yorisato" and is the work of Kunimitsu Mononobe. This Kunimitsu Mononobe is the same person to made the

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...

bell at

Engaku-ji , or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture to the south of Tokyo. Founded ...

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

. In 1921, the temple was the first ''kokubunji'' site to receive National Historic Site designation. The site was extensively excavated from 1986 to 1991, and again from 2003 to 2006, and its ruins are now maintained as a historic park.

The Sagami Kokubun-ji ruins

The ruins are located about 100 meters northwest of the current Sagami Kokubun-ji temple precincts. The original temple area is estimated to be 240 meters east-to-west and 300 meters north-to-south, with moats and an earthen rampart. It surrounded a cloister measuring 160 meters east-to-west and 120 meters north-to-south, with the central gate in the south, a

on the east, and a Seven-Story Pagoda on the west. The Lecture Hall and the central gate are connected by a rectangular corridor, and on the north side of the Lecture Hall, a monk's residences and a group of buildings that are believed to have been responsible for the management and operation of the temple. The pagoda is estimated to have had a height of 65 meters, and a base of 107 meters on each side from the foundations. These foundations contained 16 large cornerstones of

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

, measuring several tons each, on a base of rammed earth and clay. File:Sagami-kokubunji-ato zenkei.JPG, Panoramic view File:Sagami-kokubunji-ato tou.JPG, site of the pagoda File:Sagami-kokubunji-ato kondou.JPG, site of the Kondō File:Sagami-kokubunji-ato chumon.JPG, side of the Middle Gate File:Sagami-kokubunji-ato soubou.JPG, Site of the Monk's dormitory File:Sagami-kokubunji doushou.JPG, Bonshō (ICP)

Sagami Kokubun-niji

250px, Site of Sagami Kokubun-niji The ruins of the provincial nunnery associated with the Sagami Kokubun-ji are located about 500 meters north of the ruins. As with the Sagami Kokubun-ji, the nunnery occupied a walled and moated compound 175 to 200 meters square. However, unlike the Sagami Kokubun-ji, the building were arranged in a straight line from south to north with a gate, Kondō and lecture hall connected by a stone-paved passage with a bell tower on the northwest side of the Kondō and a

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 ...

on the northeast side. A rectangular

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 ...

connected the gate with the lecture hall. The Kondō originally had a based on rammed earth with foundation stones and a tiled roof; however, it later became a thatched-roof building with pillars set directly in the ground. The site was excavated from 1918 to 1920, and intermittently from 1988 onwards. It was declared a National Historic Site in 1997 with the area under protection expanded in 2008. It is preserved as part of the Sagami Kokubun-ji historic park. The two temples were originally connected by a canal, the remnants of which were discovered in 1949 and excavated in 1990.

References

External links