
was a
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 ...
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
in northeastern
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
, Japan, endowed by
Emperor Shirakawa
was the 72nd emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 白河天皇 (72)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.
Shirakawa's reign lasted from 1073 to 1087.
Genealogy
Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum T ...
in fulfillment of a sacred vow. The temple complex was located east of the Kamo River in the Shirakawa district; and its chief architectural feature was a nine-storied octagonal pagoda.
[Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869,'' p. 114.]

Hosshō-ji is known as one of the ,
[Adophson, Mikael S. (2000)]
''The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan,'' p. 388 n99.
/ref> which encompass monasteries enjoying extravagant Imperial patronage from their inception. They are sometimes identified as the "Superlative Temples" or the "''Shō'' Temples" because of the middle syllable of the temple name.
History
Hosshō-ji was founded in the early 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 was built on the site of one of Emperor Shirakawa's former palaces.
This temple and the other Rokushō-ji establishments had a particular function within the "cloister government" (''insei'') system. Although the monasteries were ostensibly established in fulfillment of vows made by these members of the Imperial family, the relationship of Emperors Shirakawa, Toba, Sutoku, and Konoe with Hosshō-ji and the other "imperial vow" temples and with the imperial residences that adjoined the temple complexes is quite revealing. Clearly the temples were not built simply as acts of piety but as ways of protecting estate income and a certain style of life. Evidently the building of new temples could serve as a coercive device to extract support from other ''kuge
The was a Japanese Aristocracy (class), aristocratic Social class, class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th ce ...
'' families and to justify the use of public taxes for the benefit of members of the imperial-house, the religious intent giving support to the political interest.[Hall, John '' et al.'' (1974). ''Medieval Japan: Essays in Institutional History,'' p. 21.]
The Rokushō-ji were also called the six "Superiority Temples;" and each were uniquely dedicated to an aspect of esoteric Buddhist ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...
, as in
* the "Superiority of Buddhist Law"[Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359">Kitabatake_Chikafusa.html" ;"title="Kitabatake Chikafusa">Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359 ''Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley),'' p. 200.] –
: Hosshō-ji, founded by Emperor Shirakawa
was the 72nd emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 白河天皇 (72)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.
Shirakawa's reign lasted from 1073 to 1087.
Genealogy
Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum T ...
in 1077.[Takagaki, Cary Shinji. (1999)]
"The Rokusho-ji, the six superiority temples of Heian Japan," p. 2.
/ref>
* the "Superiority of Worship" –
: , founded by Emperor Horikawa
was the 73rd emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 堀河天皇 (73)/ref> according to the traditional List of emperors of Japan, order of succession.
Horikawa's reign spanned the years from Heian period, 1087 through 1107 ...
(Shirakawa's son) in 1102.
* the "Most Superior" –
: Saishō-ji, founded by Emperor Toba
was the 74th Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 鳥羽天皇 (74)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.
Toba's reign spanned the years from 1107 through 1123.
Genealogy
Before his ascension to the Ch ...
(Shirakawa's grandson) in 1118.
* the "Superiority of Perfection" –
: , founded by Imperial consort Taiken-mon'in (Shirakawa's adopted daughter and Emperor Toba's chief consort and the mother of Emperor Sutoku) in 1128.
* the "Superiority of Becoming" –
: , founded by 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 Chr ...
(Shirakawa's great-grandson) in 1139.
* the "Superiority of Duration" –
: , founded by Emperor Konoe
was the 76th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 近衛天皇 (76)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.
Konoe's reign spanned the years from 1142 through 1155.
Genealogy
Before his ascension to the Chr ...
(Shirakawa's great-grandson) in 1149.
An earthquake in 1185 destroyed most of the structures, and they were not reconstructed. Surviving structures at Hosshō-ji were lost to a fire in 1342. Currently the site is occupied by Kyoto City Zoo
Kyoto City Zoo (京都市動物園) is a zoo located in Sakyō ward, Kyoto and was established in 1903, making it the second oldest zoo in the country after Ueno Zoo in Tokyo.
The Kyoto City Zoo is a member of the world Association of Zoos an ...
and the Shirakawain '' ryōkan''.
See also
* List of Buddhist temples in Kyoto
There are 1,600 Buddhist temples scattered throughout the Kyoto Prefecture, prefecture of Kyoto.
Nara period in Kyoto (710-794)
* , also known as or .
* Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple
Heian period in Kyoto (794-1229)
* , also ...
Notes
References
* Hall
In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...
, John Whitney and Jeffrey P. Mass, eds. (1974)
''Medieval Japan: Essays in Institutional History.''
New Haven: Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
OCLC 50635949
eprinted by Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1988.
OCLC 18576991
* Iwao, Seiichi, Teizō Iyanaga, Susumu Ishii, Shōichirō Yoshida, ''et al.'' (2002)
''Dictionnaire historique du Japon.''
Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose.
OCLC 51096469
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956)
''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869.''
Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 36644
* Takagaki, Cary Shinji. (1999)
"The Rokusho-ji, the six superiority temples of Heian Japan."
(University of Toronto PhD thesis, http://hdl.handle.net/1807/13266). Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada">National Library of Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...
/Bibliothèque nationale du Canada.
* Varley, H. Paul, ed. (1980).
, 1359">Kitabatake_Chikafusa.html" ;"title="Kitabatake Chikafusa">Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359 ''Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley).'' New York: Columbia University Press.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hossho-ji
11th-century Buddhist temples