("five-ringed tower") is a Japanese type of

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

pagoda believed to have been first adopted by the

Shingon is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō- ...

and Tendai sects during the mid

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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

. It is used for memorial or funerary purposesKōjien Japanese Dictionary and is therefore common in Buddhist temples and cemeteries. It is also called ("five-ringed stupa") or , where the term ''sotoba'' is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

. The stupa was originally a structure or other sacred building containing a relic of Buddha or of a saint, then it was gradually stylized in various ways and its shape can change quite a bit according to the era and to the country where it is found.Home Study Course on Basic Buddhism Often offertory strips of wood with five subdivisions and covered with elaborate inscriptions also called ''sotoba'' can be found at tombs in Japanese cemeteries (see photo below). The inscriptions contain sūtra texts and the posthumous name of the dead person. These can be considered stupa variants.

Structure and meaning

In all its variations, the ''gorintō'' includes five rings (although that number can often be difficult to detect by decoration), each having one of the five shapes symbolic of the Five Elements, ( Mahabhuta in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

, or Godai in Japanese): the earth ring (cube), the water ring (sphere), the fire ring (pyramid), the air ring (crescent), and the ether ring, (or energy, or void). The last two rings (air and ether) are visually and conceptually united into a single subgroup. The last shape, ether, is the one that changes most according to the country, and in Japan it is close to that of a lotus flower. The rings express the idea that after death our physical bodies will go back to their original, elemental form. ''Gorintō'' are usually made of stone, but some built in wood, metal, or crystal exist. On each section are often carved from top to bottom the Sanskrit letters ''kha'' (void, or in Japanese), ''ha'' (air, or ), ''ra'' (fire, or ), ''va'' (water, or ), and ''a'' (earth, or ),Article "Gorintō", Japanese Wikipedia, accessed on April 10, 2008 and in

Nichiren was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the '' Lotus Sutra''. Nichiren declared that the '' Lotus Sutra ...

and Tendai temples sometimes a ''gorintō'' will have carved on it the name of the (see photo). The ''gorintō'' as a symbol belongs to literally "secret teachings", term often translated as "esoteric Buddhism"), a Japanese term that refers to the

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

Vajrayāna practices of the

school and the related practices that make up part of the Tendai school.Article Mikkyo, accessed on April 10, 2008 In those esoteric disciplines, the first two shapes (the cube and the sphere) represent the most perfect doctrine, and are supposed to contain in themselves the other three. Together they represent the (lit. "real world"), that is the realm of perfect understanding, whereas the others constitute the (lit. "world of mutation")，or the world of impermanence, which includes the , the world we live in. On a second level of symbolism, each part of the ''gorintō'' also represents an element of change in both ''Jitsuzaikai'' and ''Henkai''. * The top symbol fuses the shape of a crescent, representing wisdom, and a triangle, representing principle. The fusion of these qualities in the Genshōkai and Henkai represents perfection, or Buddhahood. * The crescent of water represents receptivity, and is similar to a cup ready to receive from the heavens. * The triangle is a point of transition between two worlds and as such represents both unification and movement. It indicates the activity necessary to reach Enlightenment. * The circle represents completion, or Wisdom attainment. * The square is a symbol of the four elements. On a last level of symbolism, the shapes represent the order in which the student progresses in his or her spiritual studies. * The square is the basis, the will to attain perfection. * The circle is the attainment of equanimity. * The triangle represents the energy created in pursuit of the truth. * The crescent represents the development of intuition and awareness. * The topmost shape represents perfection.

History in Japan

The theory of five elements was born in India, but the development of the Japanese ''gorintō'' shows the deep influence of Mikkyō, and in particular of

Kūkai , born posthumously called , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the Vajrayana, esoteric Shingon Buddhism, Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) und ...

and Kakuban. The use of ''gorintō'' is thought to have begun in the second half of the

. The oldest known examples can be found at Chūsonji,

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

, are a mix of ''gorintō'' and '' hōtō'' (two-storied Buddhist tower) and go back to 1169. They then came into normal use during the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

and are still widely used today for memorial monuments and tombs, particularly but not exclusively in Buddhist temples. A ''gorintō'' is for example the traditional headstone shape of a

sect grave.

Notes

References

The Sotoba (Gorintō, Stupa) Explained
Home Study Course on Basic Buddhism accessed on April 6, 2008 * Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorinto Cemeteries in Japan * Buddhism in Japan *Gorinto