Gozan (Japan)
Gozan or Gosan ( Japanese 五 山 , dt. "Five Mountains") was a temple ranking system in Japanese Zen Buddhism that originated in the late Kamakura period and was coined in the Muromachi period under the auspices of the Ashikaga . It united the large temples of the then dominant Zen schools in Kamakura and Kyōto and thus brought them the first comprehensive recognition on the part of the secular authorities.
The Gozan were mainly dominated by the Rinzai schools. As the only school of Sōtō -Zen, the Kōchi-ha ( beteiligt 智 派 ) or Wanshi-ha was involved in the Gozan.
Particular emphasis was placed on the Gozan on a strict orientation towards Chinese Zen ( Chan ) as well as on Chinese philosophy and literature . The scholars of the Gozan also maintained close ties to the Chinese Empire of the Ming Dynasty . They exerted strong and cultural influence in a wide variety of areas in Japan and played an important role in the introduction of Neo-Confucianism (especially for the shushigaku ( 朱子学 )) from China to Japan.
development
The earliest historical sources already speak implicitly of various temples as Gozan jissetsu ("five mountains and ten special temples"), which are said to have existed around 1299 (including Jōchi-ji , Kenchō-ji , Engaku-ji and Jufuku-ji ). First official recognition took place in 1333 by the Go-Daigo- tennō during its short phase of restoration by raising the Daitoku-ji to this rank. In the following year, the classification also included the nanzen-ji , and finally the Kennin-ji and the Tōfuku-ji were also included.
The first Gozan list, which explicitly formulated a clear ranking system, dates from 1341:
| First rank | Kenchō-ji , Kamakura |
| Nanzen-ji , Kyoto | |
| Second place | Engaku-ji , Kamakura |
| Tenryū-ji , Kyoto | |
| Third rank | Jufuku-ji , Kamakura |
| Fourth rank | Kennin-ji , Kyoto |
| Fifth rank | Tōfuku-ji , Kyoto |
| Secondary temple (jun-gozan) | Jōchi-ji , Kamakura |
In 1358 a new list became official, which also took into account some of the vaguely defined "ten special temples". It was identical to the list from 1341 except for the fifth rank and the omission of jun-gozan :
| Fifth rank | Tōfuku-ji, Kyoto |
| Jōchi-ji, Kamakura | |
| Jōmyō-ji , Kamakura | |
| Manju-ji , Kyoto |
The system was modified several times according to the preferences of the government and the imperial court until it was finally used nationwide with the establishment of the ankokuji .
Ankokuji and Gozan
On the advice of Musō Soseki , Ashikaga Takauji and his brother Tadayoshi decided to build an Ankokuji ( 安 国寺 , "Temple for the Peace of the Country") and a Rishōtō ( 利 生 塔 , " Stupa for the good of all living beings") in each province of the country to build.
These should be dedicated to the memory of all those who died in the Genkō War from 1331 to 1333, in which the Go-Daigo-tennō had broken the power of the Hōjō rulers. The Kōgon -tennō issued a corresponding edict to set up this new system in 1345 and corresponding temples and stupas were built in a total of 66 provinces from 1362 to 1368. The Ankokuji were there strictly regulated, as it under the supervision of Ashikaga shugo were asked and were allowed to belong to them only powerful Zen temples that were considered branch temple of Gozan. The Rishōtō , however, were built at powerful temples of other schools, mainly the Shingon-shū , Tendai-shū and Risshū .
Because of the internal unrest in the Ashikaga family, which ultimately meant the death of Tadayoshis in 1352 by poisoning, as well as the death of Takauji in 1358, its inventors could no longer see the implementation of their system. When the system was completed under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu , he was only 10 years old. During the rule of his father Ashikaga Yoshiakira , who was busy pacifying the southern court until his death (cf. Nanboku-chō ), the Ashikaga-shugo, however, became largely independent warlords ( Sengoku-daimyō ). Although the provinces could no longer be controlled by the central government of the Shogunate via the Gozan and Ankokuji , it remained an important means of regulating the various Zen sects.
Only with the construction of the Shōkoku-ji by Yoshimitsu was a new ranking system set up with the Nanzen-ji as a temple of the special class at the top:
| Nanzen-ji | ||
| Kyoto | Kamakura | |
| First rank | Tenryu-ji | Kenchō-ji |
| Second place | Shokoku-ji | Engaku-ji |
| Third rank | Kennin-ji | Jufuku-ji |
| Fourth rank | Tofuku-ji | Jochi-ji |
| Fifth rank | Manju-ji | Jōmyō-ji |
Other ranking systems
Independent of the Gozan, the formerly dependent system of jissetsu grew into an independent ranking system in the following years. In the years 1480 to 1486 there were already 46 temples and finally the number grew to over 60. Later, a third system of rank was added: that of the shozan ("various temples"), which eventually raised another 230 temples to the rank of official Zen temple.
In contrast to the Gozan, there were also Zen temples in the various provinces , which were known as Rinka . a. the Sōtō Eihei-ji founded by Dōgen and the Rinzai Daitoku-ji , Myōshin-ji and Kōgen-ji .
With the decline of the central Ashikaga government in the late Muromachi period, the Rinka, who were closely associated with local warlords, eventually became more important and influential than the Gozan.
Later, the Rinzai Buddhist practicing Sengoku daimyo Takeda Shingen copied the Gozan system with the Kofu Gozan to strengthen its administrative seat in Kai Province , Kofu . Other feudal lords did the same, which is why, since the end of the Sengoku period , many smaller local temples have a "Gozan" hierarchy.
literature
- Daigan Lee Matsunaga and Alicia Orloff Matsunaga: Foundation of Japanese Buddhism; Vol. II; The mass movement (Kamakura & Muromachi periods) . Buddhist Books International, Los Angeles and Tokyo 1976. ISBN 0-914910-27-2 .