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 the city of

Ichihara, Chiba is a Cities of Japan, city, located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 274,117 in 128,316 households and a population density of 240 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . The city is home, together w ...

, Japan. It belongs to the

Shingon-shu Buzan-ha 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-ji" ...

sect, and its

honzon , sometimes referred to as a Gohonzon ( or ), is the enshrined main image or principal deity in Japanese Buddhism. The buddha, bodhisattva, or mandala image is located in either a temple or a household butsudan. The image can be either a statue ...

is a statue of Yakushi Nyōrai. It is the

provincial temple The are Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). The official name for each temple was Konkomyo Shitenno Gokoku-ji (Konkōmyō Shitennō ...

("kokubunji") of former

Kazusa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. The province was located in the middle of the Bōsō Peninsula, whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa province ...

. The present temple is of uncertain foundation, but claims to be the direct descendant of the original

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

''kokubunji'' temple which fell into ruins sometime in the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

. The Nara-period temple ruins were designated a National Historic Site in 1929, with the area under protection expanded in 1979 due to additional archaeological finds.

Kazusa Kokubun-ji

The ''

Shoku Nihongi The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the '' Six National Histories'', coming directly after the and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as t ...

'' records that in 741 AD, as the country recovered from a major smallpox epidemic,

Emperor Shōmu was the 45th Emperor of Japan, emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, duri ...

ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in every

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, the .These temples had the purpose of promoting Buddhism as the national religion of Japan and standardizing control of

imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imper ...

rule over the provinces. The Kazusa Kokubun-ji was located on the northern bank of the

Yōrō River The is a river in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is in length and has a drainage area of . Under the Rivers Act of 1906 the Yōrō is designated as a Class 2 River. The Yōrō originates near Mount Kiyosumi on the border of Amatsukominato area of ...

, in an area with a high concentration of ''

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumulus, tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century AD.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞 ...

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

s and other ancient sites, including the site of the Kazusa Kokubun-niji provincial nunnery to the northeast. The details of the foundation of the Kazusa Kokubun-ji are unclear. It appears in historical records only in the

Ōei was a after '' Meitoku'' and before '' Shōchō''. This period spanned the years from July 1394 through April 1428. Reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1394 : The new era name was created because of plague. The previous era ended and ...

era (1394-1427), but appears to have fallen into ruin soon after. It was revived during 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 ...

during the

Genroku was a after Jōkyō and before Hōei. The Genroku period spanned the years from September 1688 to March 1704. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 415. The period was known for its peace and ...

era (1688-1704), and the current main hall, a Yakushi-dō, was built in 1716 on the site of the old temple. The temple's

Niōmon is the Japanese name of a Buddhist temple gate guarded by two wooden warriors called Niō (lit. Two Kings). The gate is called Heng Ha Er Jiang (哼哈二将) in China and Geumgangmun (금강문) in Korea. The two statues are inside the two po ...

also dates from the Edo period, but one of the statues within is a survivor from the

Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...

. The site of the temple was located in 1929 with the discovery of large number of

roof tile Roof tiles are overlapping tiles designed mainly to keep out precipitation such as rain or snow, and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as clay or slate. Later tiles have been made from materials such as concrete, glass ...

s inscribed "kokubun-ji". An

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

in 1966 confirmed the foundation stones for the

Kondō Kondō, Kondo or Kondou (近藤 "near wisteria") is a surname prominent in Japanese culture, although it also occurs in other countries. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese ballet dancer *, man known for marrying a fictional vocal ...

, and Lecture Hall, and the middle gate as well as that of a

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

. From the size of the foundations for the pagoda, it is estimated that the completed structure was a seven-story building with a height of around 60-meters. The remains of a group of kilns for producing roof tiles were located in a survey conducted in 1974 to the west of the main temple complex. The temple area for is not square because there are valleys and burial mounds around it. Roughly, it is trapezoidal, measuring 478 meters north-to-south by between 254 meters and 345 meters from east-to-west, for a total area of 139,000 square meters. The inner compound containing the main buildings of the temple was 219 meters north-to-south by 194 meters east-to-west, and unlike other ''kokubunji'' temples, did not adhere to the standardized layout based on the template of

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. The construction of the temple was an attempt to imitate Chinese temples from the much-admir ...

, but was patterned instead after the temple of

Daikandai-ji 290px, A model of the Daikan-daiji temple complex, seen from the east. Part of a 1/1000 scale model of Fujiwara-kyo, Kashihara City Fujiwara-kyo Archives 290px, Roof tiles from the Daikan-daiji site is an archeological site with the ruins of ...

Asuka Asuka may refer to: People * Asuka (name), a list of people * Asuka (wrestler) (born 1981), professional wrestler * Asuka (wrestler, born 1998), professional wrestler also known as Veny outside of Japan Places In Japan * , an area in Yamato Pro ...

. This indicates that it may have been a pre-existing temple repurposed into a ''kokubunji''. A model of what the temple would look like is on display at the Chiba Prefectural Museum and Information Center, and a model of the pagoda is on display at Ichihara City Hall. Kazusa-kokubunji nioumon-2.jpg, Niōmon Kazusa-kokubunji yakushi-dou-2.jpg, Yakushi-dō Kazusa-kokubunji Masakado-tou-2.jpg, Memorial stupa to

Taira no Masakado was a Heian period provincial magnate (''gōzoku'') and samurai based in eastern Japan, notable for leading the first recorded uprising against the central government in Kyōto. Along with Sugawara no Michizane and Emperor Sutoku, he is of ...

The remains of original ''kokubunji'' overlap with the current temple precincts. The temple's Yakushi-dō, the two

Niō are two wrathful and muscular guardians of the Buddha standing today at the entrance of many Buddhist temples in East Asian Buddhism in the form of frightening wrestler-like statues. They are dharmapala manifestations of the bodhisattva Vajra ...

statues in its Niōmon , and a stone memorial monument to

are all designated as Tangible Cultural Properties of Ichihara city. The temple is located a 15-minute walk from Kazusa-Murakami Station on the

Kominato Railway The is a railway line in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator . It extends from the west coast of central Bōsō Peninsula (where it connects with the Uchibō Line at ) to in the town of Ōtaki (where it connects ...

Kominato Line The is a railway line in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator . It extends from the west coast of central Bōsō Peninsula (where it connects with the Uchibō Line at ) to in the town of Ōtaki (where it connects ...

. Kazusa-kokubunji-ato kondou-2.jpg, Site of Kondō Kazusa-kokubunji-ato tou-2.jpg, Site of the Pagoda Kazusa-kokubunji-ato tou-shinso.jpg, Foundation stone of pagoda Kazusa-kokubunji-ato seimon.jpg, Site of West Gate 上総国分寺跡・国分尼寺跡出土墨書土器.JPG, Inscribed pottery shards Minamida-kawaragama-ato.jpg, Site of tile kilns

References

External links

Chiba Prefectural Board of Education on Kazuka Kokubun-ji

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazusa Kokubun-ji Buddhist temples in Chiba Prefecture Kokubunji Ichihara, Chiba Temples of Bhaiṣajyaguru History of Chiba Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Kazusa Province 8th-century establishments in Japan 8th-century Buddhist temples Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan Temples of Shingon-shū Buzan-ha

Kazusa Kokubun-ji

See also

References

External links