is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

in Higashiyama-ku in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

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 ...

. Tōfuku-ji takes its name from two temples in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

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 ...

and Kōfuku-ji.Japan Reference
Tōfuku-ji
/ref> It is one of the Kyoto ''Gozan'' or "five great Zen temples of Kyoto". Its honorary '' sangō'' prefix is .

History

Tōfuku-ji was founded in 1236 by the imperial

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Kujō Michiie Kujō Michiie (九条道家) (28 July 1193 — 1 April 1252) was a Japanese regent in the 13th century. He was the father of Kujō Yoritsune and grandson of Kujō Kanezane (also known as Fujiwara no Kanezane). He was the father of Norizane an ...

. He appointed the monk

Enni Enni Ben'en (圓爾辯圓; 1 November 1202 – 10 November 1280) or simply Enni, also known as Shōichi Kokushi, was a Japanese Buddhist monk. He started his Buddhist training as a Tendai monk. While he was studying with Eisai, a vision of ...

as founding priest, who had studied

Rinzai The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

Buddhism in China under the monk Wuzhun Shifan and who founded Jōten-ji temple in Hakata upon his return to his homeland. Tōfuku-ji temple burned down but was rebuilt in the 15th century according to original plans. It was because of this fire damage that a merchant ship was sent to Yuan China to replace damaged artifacts and to obtain special construction materials. The ship, however that later became known as the Shinan ship sank on her return journey close to Korean shores. Tōfuku-ji temple was regarded as a remarkable replica of the Chinese public monasteries in

Zhejiang Province ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, which Japanese monks frequently visited in the thirteenth century. Tofuku-ji was one of the five temples of the

Five Mountain System The system, more commonly called simply ''Five Mountain System'', was a network of state-sponsored Chan (Zen) Buddhist temples created in China during the Southern Song (1127–1279). The term "mountain" in this context means "temple" or "mona ...

. The temple was greatly reduced in size from 70 buildings to 25 during the Meiji era after the

Shinbutsu bunri The Japanese term indicates the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration which separated Shinto ''kami'' from buddhas, and also Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, which were originally amalgamated. It is a ...

decree. In 1881, a fire burned down many major buildings such as the Main Hall, the ''Hōjo'', the ''Hattō'' and the statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. During the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, the temple area was requisitioned and became a

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

for Russians. Both the main hall and the ''Hattō'' were rebuilt in 1917, and a new statue of Sakyamuni Buddha was later relocated to the temple in 1934.

Abbots

In 1486 Ryōan Keigo became the 171st abbot of Tōfuku-ji. At the end of the 16th century Ankokuji Ekei was appointed abbot. From 1980 to 2009 Tōfuku-ji has been led by head abbot Keidō Fukushima.

Architecture

Tōfuku-ji's main gate is the oldest ''

sanmon A or is the most important mon of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, and is part of the Zen '' shichidō garan'', the group of buildings that forms the heart of a Zen Buddhist temple.JAANUS It can be often found in temples of other denominations ...

'' in

. It is a National Treasure of Japan. It is two stories high and five bays wide. The central three bays are doors. Currently, the Tōfuku-ji complex includes 24 sub-temples, though in the past the number has been as high as 53. The complex includes Japan's oldest communal toilet, which was built in the first half of 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 ...

. In October 2022, a car crashed through and damaged the wooden doors and supporting pillars at the entrance to the toilet.

Artwork

Tōfuku-ji's large ''nehan-zu'' painting depicts Buddha on his death bed. This massive image (7 x 14 meters) is the second largest in Japan. The image at nearby Sennyū-ji is the largest of its kind in Japan, measuring 8 x 16 meters. Both images are rarely displayed, most recently in 2003 for three days only. A 1238

portrait painting Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...

of Wuzhun Shifan along with an inscription by an anonymous author was brought to the temple by Enni in the 1240s and remains there today. Plaques of Wuzhun's calligraphy are also kept at Tōfuku-ji. In 1933 the

Nihonga ''Nihonga'' () is a Japanese style of painting that typically uses mineral pigments, and occasionally ink, together with other organic pigments on silk or paper. The term was coined during the Meiji period (1868–1912) to differentiate it from ...

painter

Inshō Dōmoto was a Japanese Nihonga artist. Biography His birth name was Sannosuke Dōmoto. At a young age, he started working for Heizo Tatsumura I. At the age of 28, he was exhibited with his work "Landscape of Fukakusa". His 1961 "Symphony" is considere ...

painted the large and vivid "Blue Dragon" ceiling painting for one of the halls, which he painted in 17 days.

Garden

There are a number of

gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

in the various precincts of Tōfuku-ji. The current gardens were designed by landscape architect Mirei Shigemori in the summer and autumn of 1939. The moss garden in particular has been emblematic of the renewal of Japanese gardening principles in the 20th century. The temple features a large number of

Japanese maple ''Acer palmatum'', commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Korean: ''danpungnamu'' []; Japanese: ''irohamomiji'' [] or ''momiji'' []), is a species of woody plant native to Korea, Japan, China, eastern Mongol ...

trees, and is most crowded during the autumn season when people flock to see the autumn foliage. It is a tradition to view the leaves from the Tsūten-kyō bridge.

Images

Image:Toufuku-ji sanmon4.JPG, Main gate, side view Image:FundainZunantei.jpg, View from interior Image:Hiroshige People under maple trees by a stream.jpg, Scenic drawing of Tsūten-kyō bridge, by

Hiroshige or , born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format landscape series '' The Fifty-three Stations ...

Image:Tsuten-kyo bridge.JPG, Tsūten-kyō bridge during autumn Image:Tofukuji Tsutenkyo.jpg, Tsūten-kyō Image:ReiunIn GaunNoNiwa.jpg, Dry Zen garden at Reiun-in Image:Toufuku-ji kaizandou3.JPG, Garden at Kaizandō Image:TofukujiRyoginanToutei.jpg, Garden at Ryoginan-tōtei Image:Tofukuji torii.jpg, ''Torii'' gates leading to steps Image:Tofukuji stairs.jpg, Steps Image:Toufuku-ji hondou2.JPG, Main hall Image:TofukujiKaisando.jpg, Kaizandō Image:Tofukuji-bridge-autumn-2017-Luka-Peternel.jpg, Maple trees in autumn foliage around Tsūten-kyō Image:Tofukuji-maple-autumn-2017-Luka-Peternel.jpg, View of maple trees from Tsūten-kyō

Shinan Ship

As mentioned in the "History" section of this article, Tōfuku-ji temple was severely damaged and partly destroyed by fires during the second and third decades of the 14th century. It was specifically in response to a fire damage in 1319 that a merchant ship was sent to Yuan China in 1323 to replace damaged artifacts and to obtain special construction materials for the reconstruction. The ship that now is known as Shinan ship, sailed from

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

to Hakata. The early 14th century journey was never completed though as the ship with its 200 tons of cargo was caught in a storm and sank close to Korean shores. This became apparent only after the wreckage was found almost seven hundred years later in 1975 close to the Shinan Islands. On many of the "wooden tablets" or "wooden tags"(木間) that were used customarily to identify the cargo, the Chinese calligraphy characters of Tōfuku-ji(東福寺) temple could be clearly read. Miraculously her passengers, some (or many) of them Japanese Buddhist monks, as recorded by the Korean annals

Goryeosa ''Goryeosa'' (), or ''History of Goryeo'', is an extensive historical record of the Goryeo dynasty, compiled by the officials of Goryeo's successor state, Joseon. Its compilation started during the reign of Taejo of Joseon, Taejo (the founding ...

, drifted ashore sound and safe. We can also find records of this unfavorable but overall lucky incident in the personal notes of zen monk-poet Daichi Zenji(大智禅師) who happened to be one of the repatriated passengers.

Notes

References

* Baroni, Helen Josephine. (2002)
''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism.''
New York: Rosen Publishing Group.
OCLC 42680558
* Dumoulin, Heinrich. (2005)
''Zen Buddhism: A History'' (Vol. II: Japan).
Bloomington, Indiana:

World Wisdom World Wisdom is an independent American publishing company established in 1980 in Bloomington, Indiana. World Wisdom publishes religious and philosophical texts, including the work of authors such as Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus ...

. * Fukushima, Keidō and Fumi Dan. (2006). ''Tōfukuji.'' Kyoto: Tankōsha. ; * Harris, Ishwar C. and Jeff Shore. (2004)
''The Laughing Buddha of Tofukuji: The Life of Zen Master Keidō Fukushima.''
Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom.
OCLC 56051074
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869.'' Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society.

External links

Tōfuku-ji official web site

Kyoto Prefectural Tourism Guide Tōfuku-ji

Buddhist TravelTōfuku-ji

Pictures of Tōfuku-ji
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tofuku-Ji Buddhist temples in Kyoto Prefecture Gardens in Kyoto Prefecture 1230s establishments in Japan 1236 establishments in Asia National Treasures of Japan Tōfuku-ji temples Rinzai temples Important Cultural Properties of Japan 13th-century Buddhist temples Zen gardens Temples of Gautama Buddha