Shōryū-ji (青龍寺 ''kana:'' しょうりゅうじ) is 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- ...

Buddhist Temple located in

Tosa, Kōchi file:仁淀川河口大橋.jpg, 270px, Niyodo River in Tosa file:Tosa city center area Aerial photograph.2014.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of Tosa city center is a Cities of Japan, city located in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimat ...

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 ...

. It is the 36th temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. The

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 ...

of worship at Shōryū-ji is

Acala or Achala (, "The Immovable", ), also known as (, "Immovable Lord") or (, "Noble Immovable Lord"), is a Fierce deities, wrathful deity and ''dharmapala'' (protector of the Dharma) prominent in Vajrayana, Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Budd ...

History

According to the temple records, the temple was founded by Kukai during the Kōnin era (810-824). Following his travels to China, upon returning to Japan with the knowledge that Kukai's teacher

Huiguo Huiguo () (746–805) was a Buddhist monk of Tang China who studied and taught Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, a Vajrayana tradition recently imported from India. Later Huiguo would become the teacher of Kūkai, founder of Shingon Buddhism, a promine ...

had bestowed upon him, Kukai grasped his

vajra The Vajra (, , ), is a legendary and ritualistic tool, symbolizing the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force). It is also described as a "ritual weapon". The use of the bell and vajra together as s ...

, prayed that he had arrived in a land he was destined to, and threw it eastwards. Kukai sensed that the vajra he had thrown was inside a pine tree of the mountain Shōryū-ji is located on, and reported to

Emperor Saga was the 52nd emperor of Japan, Emperor Saga, Saganoyamanoe Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession. Saga's reign lasted from 809 to 823. Traditional narrative Saga was the second son of ...

. During the 6th year of the Kounin era (815), remembering his master's teachings, Kukai founded the construction of Shoryu-ji, which shared the same name as his masters temple in Chang-an, Qinglong Temple (青龍寺). The Honzon Acala was chosen due to an experience Kukai had during a storm while returning to Japan, in which Acala was said to have appeared and cut the waves with a sword, saving them, which Kukai had carved as the Honzon. The temple was in ruins by the beginning of 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 ...

(1603-1868), but the second feudal lord of the

Tosa domain The was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its ...

, Yamauchi Tadayoshi, had it restored during the

Shōhō was a after '' Kan'ei'' and before '' Keian''. This period spanned the years from December 1644 through February 1648. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 412./ref> Change of era * 1644 : T ...

era (1644-1648). However, due to an earthquake and tsunami in 1707, it was rebuilt near the end of the Edo period.

References

Buddhist temples in Japan Tosa, Kōchi Shikoku region Shikoku Pilgrimage Sites {{Japan-Buddhist-temple-stub