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 Takaoka,

Toyama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Toyama Prefecture has a population of 1,044,588 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,247.61 km2 (1,640.01 sq mi). Toyama Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the ...

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 ...

. The temple belongs to the Sōtō-school of Japanese Zen

Buddhism 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 gra ...

History

The second ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of

Kaga Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.

, Maeda Toshinaga (1562–1614) after retiring to Takaoka, had a temple, built, which was completed in 1613. After Toshinaga's death in 1614, the temple was renamed to Zuiryū-ji after his posthumous name, . His younger brother,

Maeda Toshitsune was an early-Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 2nd ''daimyō'' of Kaga Domain in the Hokuriku region of Japan, and the 3rd hereditary chieftain of the Maeda clan. Toshitsune was a brother of Maeda Toshinaga and a son of Maeda Toshiie. He was ...

, and third ''daimyō'' of Kaga, in commemoration of Toshinaga, had the temple expanded starting in 1645. The extensions were supervised by who completed the works for the 50th anniversary in 1663. The temple complex at the time covered an area of and — similar to a castle — was surrounded by two moats.

Temple complex

The temple compound or '' garan'' in the

zen style Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text=:ja:禅, 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a East Asian Buddhism, school of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Ch ...

is modeled after the Zen temple Jingshanshou (径山寿寺) in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

.Suzuki, Toshihiko (Hrsg.): “Zuiryu-ji’’. In: Nihon daihyakka zensho (Denshibukku-han)”, Shogakukan, 1996. *The (A) outside of the actual complex has a ''kirizuma'' style, gabled roof with . It is a 3 ken wide ''yakuimon''. Decorated with the emblem (

mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * An ...

) of the Maeda clan, plum blossom and lions on either end, it is a good example of Momoyama and 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 characteriz ...

ornamentation.Toyama kindai rekishi kenkyukai rekishi sampo bukai (Hrsg.): ''Toyama-ken no rekishi sampo . '' Yamakawa Shuppan, 2008. . * Built in 1645, the (T) was lost in fire in 1746. It was rebuilt from 1814 to 1818 by Yamagami Zen’emon Yoshihiro. The gate is a two-storied 3 ken wide main gate to the temple and has an '' irimoya'' style roof with . On either side it is connected to a 3 ken wide, 1 ken deep single-storied corridor ('' kairō'') with kirizuma''-style roof, which connects most of the structures in the complex. * The main hall or (B) is located in the centre of the temple compound. Made of elm wood, it measures 3×3 ken or . The roof is in ''irimoya''-style with a pent roof enclosure, lead plate roofing. Inside it is a mixture of Japanese and Indian style with good carvings; a masterpiece of Yamagami. * The (G) is the main assembly and lecture hall of the complex and dates to the year 1655. It is single-storied and measures 11×9 ken. The roof is in ''irimoya''-style with a 2×1 step canopy and '' karahafu'' gable. It is roofed with copper plates. The ceiling of the central room has been decorated in floral motif by

Kanō Yasunobu Kanō Yasunobu (, 10 January 1614 – 1 October 1685) was a Japanese painter of the Kanō school of painting during the Edo period. He was the third son of Kanō Takanobu, who had been head of the school, and succeeded Kanō Sadanobu as ...

. At the end of the room in the central alcove there is a stele commemorating Maeda Toshinaga. The alcove to the right has been used for receptions by the Maeda, the one to the left was reserved for the priests and higher ranking cohorts of the Maeda. *Other buildings in the complex that are connected by the corridor are the (R), the (Z), the (H). Close to the entrance on the eastern side of the complex, the following buildings have been renovated recently: the (Y) and the (N).At a zen temple, the toilet is variously paraphrased as or or . In 1997 the High gate, the Buddha-Hall, and the Dharma-Hall were designated as

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 ...

. The ''sōmon'', the meditation hall, the large tea house and the corridors have been designated as Important Cultural Property. The temple owns a painting of Daruma by Sesshū, a Kannon by

Kanō Tan'yū was a Japanese painter of the Kanō school. One of the foremost Kanō painters, many of the best known Kanō works today are by Tan'yū. Biography His original given name was Morinobu; he was the eldest son of Kanō Takanobu and grandson ...

and other paintings.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Mainichi Shimbu (Hrsg.): Juyo bunkazai 12. Tempelarchitektur. Mainichi Shimbun-sha, 1973.

External links