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 ...

, formally known as located in the Iwai district of the city of

Asahi Asahi (Japanese 朝日, 旭, or あさひ 'morning sun') may refer to: Places in Japan Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi ...

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The temple is also known as the , a reference to a Fudō-myōō statue located under a waterfall on the site.

Etymology

The name of Ryūfuku-ji in the

Japanese language is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...

is formed from two

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

characters. The first, , means "

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

", and the second, means "blessing" or "

luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at a ...

History

According to legend, Ryūfuku-ji was founded in 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 ...

by the priest

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 ...

. By tradition Kūkai carved the statue of Fudō-myōō located in the

Hondō Main hall or Main Temple is the building within a Japanese Buddhist monastery compound ('' garan'') which enshrines the main object of veneration.Kōjien Japanese dictionary Because the various denominations deliberately use different terms, thi ...

of the temple. The Fudō-myōō has adherents among locals of the area and the fisherman of the Kujukuri Coast. In the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

(1467 – 1573) the

Shimada clan Shimada may refer to: *Shimada (surname), a Japanese surname *Shimada, Shizuoka, Shimada (city), Shizuoka, Japan **Shimada-juku **Shimada Station *Shimada (hairstyle), a traditional Japanese hairstyle for women *13678 Shimada, asteroid *NOAAS Bell ...

built Mibiro Castle to the south of the temple, but it and the temple were completely destroyed by fire as part of local conflicts during the period.

Structures

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 *Hondō main hall *Dainichiden --

Dainichi Nyorai Vairocana (from Sanskrit: Vi+rocana, "from the sun" or "belonging to the sun", "Solar", or "Shining"), also known as Mahāvairocana (Great Vairocana), is a major Buddhahood, Buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpret ...

chapel *Kannon-dō --

Kannon Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

chapel *Daishi-dō -- Daishi chapel

Ryūfuku-ji Municipal Forest

Ryūfuku-ji is known for its numerous waterfalls, and many of them flow from the slopes surrounding the temple complex. Ryūfuku-ji and its surrounding forest are protected as a nature and wildlife refuse as part of the Ryūfuku-ji Municipal Forest. In late May and June the ''genjibotaru'' species of

firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

appear around the hondō and waterfalls surrounding the temple. The temple is surrounded by dense vegetation. Notable examples of plant species such as the ''otakarakō''

ligularia ''Ligularia'' (leopard plant) is a genus of Old World herbaceous perennial plants in the groundsel tribe within the sunflower family. They have yellow or orange composite flower heads with brown or yellow central disc florets, and are native ...

and the ''asukainode''

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

are found throughout the temple complex. The forest has been

designated Designation (from Latin ''designatio'') is the process of determining an incumbent's successor. A candidate that won an election, for example, is the ''designated'' holder of the office the candidate has been elected to, up until the candidate's ...

a Prefectural Natural Monument.

Location

Ryūfuku-ji and the Ryūfuku-ji Municipal Forest is in the Iwai District of Asahi, and is located four kilometers north of Iioka Station on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Sōbu Main Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It connects Tokyo with the east coast of Chiba Prefecture, passing through the cities of Funabashi, Chiba, and Chōshi. Its name derives from the ...

. The temple and municipal forest is accessible by bus from the station.

References