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 ...

located in

Sakyō-ku, Kyoto is one of the eleven Wards of Kyoto, wards in the Municipalities of Japan, city of Kyoto, Kyoto, Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is located in the northeastern part of the city. History The meaning of ''sakyō'' (左京) is "on the Em ...

, Japan. It belongs to the ōtō school of

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 ...

and its honzon is an image of Merōfu Kannon. The temple's full name is Rorozan Shisen-dō Jōzan-ji (六六山詩仙堂丈山寺), with the temple name coming from the fact that it was originally the villa of the

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 ...

intellectual Ishikawa Jōzan (1583–1672), who established the temple in 1641. The temple was designated a National Historic Site in 1928.

Overview

Shinsen-dō was originally the villa of the scholar Ishikawa Jōzan, a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, but after an incident related to the Siege of Osaka in the summer of 1500, was placed under house arrest for a time. He then entered the Myōshin-ji monastery and was taught Neo-Confucianism by Fujiwara Seika and had close ties to Hayashi Razan. For a time, he worked for the Asano clan of

Hiroshima Domain The was a large domain that owned all of Aki Province and half of Bingo Province. It occupies most of current Hiroshima Prefecture. The domain office was located at Hiroshima Castle in Sato District, Aki Province (renamed Numata District in 1 ...

, but after the death of his mother, he gave up his position and retired to Kyoto, where he lived a secluded life. Initially, he lived in a hermitage near Shōkoku-ji, which he called the "Hermitage of Sleeping Bamboo" (睡竹堂, Suichiku-dō), but four years later, in 1641, he moved to the current location. Because the house was situated on a slope, Jōzan initially wanted to call it the "Concave-Covex Shelter" (凹凸窠, Ōtsuka), but because the interior contained pictures of 36 famous Chinese poets, he ultimately decided on the current name Shinsen-dō , or "Hall of Poets." Since the donor of these paintings, Kinoshita Katsutoshi (1569–1649), had the idea of the Kasendō (歌仙堂), Jōzan had Kanō Tan’yū paint portraits of the poets and decorated the second floor with them, with each wall having portraits of nine poets. Jōzan also occupied himself with the

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or lit. 'Hot water for tea') is a Culture of Japan, Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . The term "Japa ...

and excelled in

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 ...

design. He was friends with Shōkadō Shōjō, one of the “Three Calligraphers of the Kan’ei Era”, and with the wealthy entrepreneur Suminokura Sōan (角倉素庵; 1571–1632), eldest son of Suminokura Ryōi (1554–1614), and thus lived a life with connections to science and art. When Jōzan died in 1672 at the age of 90, he was buried about 500 meters northeast of the villa. His grave and is also registered as a National Historic site. The temple's gardens, designed by Jōzan, are considered masterworks of

s and were designed to be enjoyed in all four seasons.JNTO flyer on Kyoto
Retrieved on January 10, 2009 One of them includes a device called a ''sōzu'', a type of ''

shishi-odoshi (literally, "deer-frightening" or "boar-frightening"), in a wide sense, refers to Japanese devices made to frighten away animals that pose a threat to agriculture, including ''kakashi'' (scarecrows), ''naruko'' (clappers) and ''sōzu''. In a na ...

'' designed to scare away wild animals such as deer by making a loud noise. Water trickles into a bamboo tube, and when it reaches a certain level, it upsets the balance of the tube. The tube tips over on a pivot, discharging the water, and turns upright, striking a rock and emitting a loud clapping noise. plays a recording of the ''sōzu'' at Shisen-dō.

References

External links

Shisen-dō Homepage

Photos of Shisen-dō
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shisen-do 1641 establishments in Japan Buddhist temples in Kyoto Soto temples Historic Sites of Japan