}

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 Oka neighborhood of the village of Asuka,

Nara Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

, 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 clay statue of Nyōirin Kannon Bosatsu. The temple's full name is Tōkō-zan Shinjūin-in Ryūgai-ji (東光山真珠院龍蓋寺).The temple is the 7th stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage pilgrimage route.

Overview

The foundation of this temple is uncertain. According to the "Gien-den" in the "Tōdaiji Yoroku" and the " Fusō Ryakuki", the temple was founded when the monk Gien (643-728) built a building on the site of the Okamiya Palace, the residence of

Prince Kusakabe was a Japanese imperial crown prince from 681 until his death. He was the second son of Emperor Tenmu. His mother was the empress Unonosarara, today known as Empress Jitō. Kusakabe was the sole child of his mother. According to ''Nihon Shok ...

, the son of

Emperor Tenmu was the 40th Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 天武天皇 (40) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53. He ascended ...

who died in 689. According to the temple's legend, Gien sealed an evil dragon which had been tormenting the local residences in a pond and covered it with stones. This led the temple to become famous as a place for prayers to ward off evil, and it attracted numerous pilgrims from the

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 ...

onwards, and to the temple' formal name of . However, the first appearance of the temple in historical documentation is in an entry in the "

Shōsōin The is the wikt:treasure house, treasure house of Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. The building is in the ''azekura'' (log-cabin) style with a raised floor. It lies to the northwest of the Great Buddha Hall. The Shōsō-in houses arti ...

Documents" in July 740. The current temple is located on a hillside east of Asuka Village, and so the temple was nicknamed "Oka-dera"; however,

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 dating to the early Nara period have been excavated excavated from the grounds of Haruta Shrine, adjacent to the west of the temple, and it is believed that this was the site of the temple when first constructed. The former site of Okadera was designated a National Historic Site in 2005. In 1982, an excavation by the Kashihara Archaeological Institute revealed that a 4.5meter-long line of

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

cut stones, thought to have marked the north side of a south-facing main hall measuring 7 bays (approximately 12.74 meters) by 4 bays (7.28 meters). The layout of other buildings and the temple complex is unknown. Gien was the founder of the Hosso sect, and his disciples included

Rōben (689 – 773), also known as Ryōben, was a Japanese Buddhist monk of the Kegon sect, and clerical founder of the Tōdai-ji temple in Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. He is popularly known as the . His life spanned the late Asuka period (538 &n ...

and

Gyōki was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-d ...

, who were involved in the founding 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 ...

. Oka-dera was a branch temple of Kofuku-ji, but gradually fell into decline. In 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 ...

, it was restored by

Hase-dera is the main temple of the Shingon-shu Buzan-ha, Buzan sect of Shingon Buddhism. The temple is located in Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The Main Hall is a National Treasure (Japan), National Treasure of Japan. Overview Accord ...

and converted into a

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- ...

temple. The Main Hall of the temple was rebuilt in 1805 and is a Designated Tangible Cultural Property of Nara Prefecture. The Kaisan-dō (Founder's Chapel) dates from 1797 and was relocated to Oka-dera in 1871 from Myōraku-ji (

Tanzan Shrine , also known as the Danzan Shrine, the and the , is a Shinto shrine in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It is located 5km from Ishibutai Kofun. History The shrine traces its origin to a Tendai temple built in the Asuka period (538 – 7 ...

) due to the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

's edicts separating Buddhism from Shinto. The

Rōmon The is one of two types of two-storied gates used in Japan (the other one being the '' nijūmon'', see photo in the gallery below). Even though it was originally developed by Buddhist architecture, it is now used at both Buddhist temples and S ...

gate is also a Nara Prefecture Designated Tangible Cultural Property. It was built in the

Keichō was a after '' Bunroku'' and before '' Genna''. This period spanned from October 1596 to July 1615. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1596 : The era name was changed to ''Keichō'' to mark the passing of various natural disaste ...

era (1596-1615) using materials from the three-story pagoda, which was started to be rebuilt in 1473 but never completed. The

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 ...

gate is a National Important Cultural Property and was built in 1612, also from materials from the former three-story pagoda. Okadera Asuka Nara pref29n3900.jpg, Rōmon Okadera Asuka Nara pref26n4272.jpg, Three-story Pagoda Okadera Asuka Nara pref13n4272.jpg, Stone 12-story Pagoda Okadera Asuka Nara pref08n3900.jpg, Shōrō Okadera Asuka Nara pref05n4272.jpg, Main Hall Okadera Asuka Nara pref01n3900.jpg, Niōmon

Cultural Properties

National Treasure

*, Nara period

National Important Cultural Properties

*, built in 1612, also from materials from the former three-story pagoda. *, built in 1644 *, Nara period. It is the largest clay statue in Japan, standing 4.85 meters tall. Most Nyoirin Kannon statues are depicted as six-armed seated figures, but this statue has two arms, similar to the principal image at

Ishiyama-dera is a Shingon temple in Ōtsu in Japan's Shiga Prefecture. This temple is the thirteenth of the Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage. History It was constructed around 747 CE, and is said to have been founded by Rōben. The temple contains a number of cu ...

. The head is original, but the body has been extensively repaired, and the legs were originally half-seated like the principal image at Ishiyama-dera but were altered to the current seated form. *, Nara period

References

External links