, is a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

located within the Buddhist temple of in the city of Iwaki,

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

, Japan. The Amida-dō is a

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 ...

and the temple, with its

paradise garden The paradise garden is a form of garden of Old Iranian origin, specifically Achaemenid which is formal, symmetrical and most often, enclosed. The most traditional form is a rectangular garden split into four quarters with a pond in the center, a ...

, has been designated an National Historic Site.

History

The temple of Ganjō-ji was built in 1160 by Princess Tokuhime, daughter of

Fujiwara no Kiyohira was a samurai of mixed Japanese-Emishi parentage of the late Heian period (794–1185), who was the founder of the Hiraizumi or Northern Fujiwara dynasty that ruled Northern Japan from about 1100 to 1189. Biography Kiyohira was the son of Fuji ...

of the Hiraizumi Fujiwara clan, as a memorial temple for her husband, Iwaki Norimichi. The temple was granted imperial status by Emperor Go-Toba, and was protected and patronized by successive of Iwakitaira Domain 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 ...

in 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 ...

. The temple converted at some point from the Pure Land to the Shingon denomination and remains an active temple; however, the Pure Land Garden, including the pond, is now owned and managed by Iwaki City. The temple was closed to the public due to the damage caused by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

, but restoration was completed in July 2012 and the temple reopened.

Buildings

* Amida-dō (

); built in 1660. The building is a square structure with a thatched tented roof consisting of very thin layers of wood shingles. Inside, the walls were once covered with

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

paintings, of which only a fragment remains. Along with Mōtsū-ji in

Hiraizumi is a town located in Nishiiwai District, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,408 and a population density of in 2,616 households. The total area of the town was . It is noted for the Historic Monuments and Site ...

and a structure of Kōzō-ji in Kakuda, Miyagi, it is one of only three surviving structures of 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. ...

in 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 retains a ...

of Japan. The Amida-do is surrounded by ponds on all three sides: east, west, and south, and there is a worship path from the south.

Treasures

Inside the Amidadō are five statues: * Wooden Amida Nyōrai triad (

) ( Important Cultural Properties) * Wooden statue of Jikokuten (Heian period) (ICP) * Wooden statue of Tamonten (Heian period) (ICP)

Gardens

Between 1972 and 1982 archaeological investigations were conducted into the pond, pebble beach, ornamental stones, peninsula, central island, and bridges of the twelfth-century paradise garden.

Gallery

File:Shiramizu Amida-do Hall.jpg, Shiramizu Amida-do Hall File:白水阿弥陀堂 - panoramio (3).jpg, Garden File:Shiramizu-Amidado-kyoiki.jpg, Aerial photograph

References