also known as the 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

Meguro is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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 currently belongs to the

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

school of

Japanese Buddhism Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was cont ...

, and its main image is a ''

hibutsu are Japanese Buddhist icons or statues concealed from public view. ''Hibutsu'' are generally located within Buddhist temples in shrines called . They are unavailable for viewing or worship except for certain religious ceremonies. It is possible i ...

'' statue of Fudō-myōō. The temple is 18th of the Kantō Sanjūroku Fudō pilgrimage route of 36 temples in the

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

dedicated to Fudō-myōō.

History

According to the temple legend, Ryūsen-ji was built in 808 by

Ennin , better known in Japan by his posthumous name, Jikaku Daishi (), was a priest of the Tendai school of Buddhism in Japan, and its third . Ennin was instrumental in expanding the Tendai Order's influence, and bringing back crucial training and ...

to enshrine a statue of Fudō-myōō, while he was on a journey from

Shimotsuke province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Hitachi Province, ...

Mount Hiei is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures, Japan. The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by ...

. It is one of many temples in eastern Japan whose histories are uncertain or unknown, which have the tradition that they were founded by Ennin. It is unclear what veracity, if any, these legends have. The temple does date to 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 ...

, as written records from the year 860 indicate that

Emperor Seiwa was the 56th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 清和天皇 (56)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Seiwa's reign spanned the years from 858 through 876. Traditional narrative Seiwa was the fourth ...

authorized a change in the temple's mountain name to "Taeisan". However, the temple disappears from the historical record for many centuries, reappearing only in the early

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 ...

. In 1615, the main hall was destroyed by a fire. In 1630, it became a subsidiary temple of Kanei-ji, and was one of the temples restored and enlarged by

Tenkai was an influential Japanese Tendai Buddhist monk of the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo periods. He achieved the rank of ''Daisōjō'', the highest rank of the Tendai priesthood and was an influential advisor to various Shoguns, including To ...

with the patronage of

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who acted as his political adviser and was at the ...

. The name of the surrounding district of "Meguro" derives its name from Ryūsen-ji's black-eyed statue of Fudō-myōō, one of five protective Fudō-myōō statues placed at strategic points on the outskirts of

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

, the capital of the Tokugawa shogunate. Each statue had eyes of a different color. (Another Tokyo ward, Mejiro is named for the white-eyed Fudō-myōō). During the Edo period, the temple was famous as the location of a lottery. It was also popularly believed that bathing in the springs or waterfall at the temple would cure illness, and the temple was thus depicted in the ''

Edo meisho zue is an illustrated guide describing famous places, called '' meisho'', and depicting their scenery in pre-1868 Tokyo, then known as Edo. It was printed using Japanese woodblock printing techniques in 20 books divided among seven volumes. Initi ...

'' and other guidebooks as one of the major sightseeing spots of

. The temple town which developed surrounding the temple was noted for bamboo products, and for dishes either containing bamboo shoots or in the shape of bamboo, the plant having been introduced to Edo as a commercial crop by the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

in the mid-Edo period. Ryūsen-ji is famed as the burial place of the romantic couple Hirai Gonpachi (平井権八) and Komurasaki (小紫), whose story was told in numerous

Kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

plays and in A.B. Mitford's ''

Tales of Old Japan ''Tales of Old Japan'' (1871) is an anthology of short stories compiled by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, Lord Redesdale, writing under the better known name of A.B. Mitford. These stories focus on various aspects of Japanese life before the ...

''. The temple is also an important site for the friendship between Filipino national hero

Jose Rizal Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean * Jose ben Halaft ...

and Seiko Usui (Osei-san), a daughter of a samurai. Much of the temple was destroyed in a fire in May 1978, and thus most of its current structures are modern.

Grave of Aoki Konyō

One of the few Edo period structures in the temple to have survived the 1978 fire is the Seishi-dō chapel. Built in the mid-Edo period, it is a Designated Tangible Cultural Property of Meguro Ward. In the vicinity of this temple is a memorial monument to the composer

Nagayo Motoori Nagayo Motoori (sometimes spelled Motohori) (本居長世; 4 April 1885 – 14 October 1945) was a Japanese composer.20-seiki no Ajia no sakkyokukatachi - Page 225 Nihon Sakkyokuka Kyōgikai - 2002 "Komatsu, Kiyomi Fujii (1889-1944), and Shinpe ...

and another to the pre-war political philosopher

Ikki Kita was a Japanese author, intellectual and political philosopher who was active in early Shōwa period Japan. Drawing from an eclectic range of influences, Kita was a self-described socialist who has also been described by detractors as the "i ...

, whose grave is also at the temple. The cemetery of this chapel also has the grave of Aoki Konyō (1698-1769) was a Confucian scholar in the middle of the Edo period remembered as the person who popularized the cultivation of

sweet potatoes The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of the ...

in Japan. The tomb is a simple stone monument with the words "Konyo-sensei's tomb" engraved on it, and is said to have been erected by Konyō in his lifetime. It was designated a National Historic Site in 1943.

Gallery

Brooklyn Museum - Meguro zu (Scene at Meguro) - Kitao Shigemasa.jpg, Meguro Fudo Temple by Kitao Shigemasa, c. 1770. The temple Meguno Fudō. Colour woodcut by Hiroshige III Wellcome V0046671.jpg, ''ukiyoe'' by Hiroshige depicting the Meguro Fudō Shirai Gonpachi Kunisada.jpeg, Shirai Gonpachi by Kunisada, 1852, a Kabuki character based on Hirai Gonpachi. Ryusen-ji Seishido.jpg, Seishi-dō Kita Ikki Cenotaph at Meguro Fudo Temple.jpg, Ikki Kita monument Grave of Konyo AOKI.jpg, Grave of Aoki Konyō

References

External links

Official home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryusen-ji Buddhist temples in Tokyo Buildings and structures in Meguro Tendai temples 9th-century Buddhist temples Temples of Fudō Myōō Tokyo Metropolitan Designated Tangible Cultural Property 9th-century establishments in Japan