Jōraku-ji (Tokushima)
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The Jōraku-ji ( Japanese 常 楽 寺 ) with the Go Ōgurizan (盛 壽山) and Emmeiin (延命 院) in the mountains on the outskirts of the city of Tokushima is a temple of Shingon Buddhism. In the traditional count, it is the 14th temple on the Shikoku pilgrimage route .
history
Of the 88 temples on the Shikoku pilgrimage route, the Jōraku-ji is the only one in which the holy Maitreya (弥勒,), Japanese Miroku bosatsu, is venerated. The temple was founded by priest Kūkai when he came to this area at the age of 42, which is considered dangerous for men, and is said to have seen Maitreya there in many forms. He then carved the cult figure from a tree and erected the first, simple temple buildings. Later, his nephew, Priest Shinnen (真 然), built the main hall and Priest Kishin (祈 親) built the teaching hall, the three-story pagoda and the temple gate, creating a spacious temple complex.
In the Muromachi period, the temple became a place of prayer for the princes of the Awa province , but the temple was destroyed in the armed conflicts during the Tenshō era (15-15). The temple was rebuilt at the beginning of the Edo period , and in 1818 it was raised, up until then at the foot of the mountains. Today it can be reached via a staircase of fifty stone steps near the “garden of flowing stones” (流水 岩 の 庭. Ryūsuigan no niwa).
The attachment
The current facility consists of only a few buildings. If you walk through the temple gate, marked by two stone pillars (山門, Sammon; 1), you can see the main hall (本 堂, Hondō; 2) ahead and on the right in front of it the hall in which the temple founder is venerated, the Daishidō (大師 堂; 3).
One of the sights is the mighty Araragi (ア ラ ラ ギ, dt. "Yew tree") between the main hall and Daishidō, which is 8 m in circumference at a height of 10 m and a small figure representing Kūkai sits on the fork of the branch. The tree is prayed for in the case of eye problems and sugar problems.
photos
Temple gate
Main Hall and Daishidō
Daishidō
literature
- Oguri, Doei: Kukai. Shikoku hachijuhachi kosho no arukikata. Chukei no Bunko, 2011. ISBN 978-4-8061-4067-2 .
Web links
Coordinates: 34 ° 3 ′ 1.2 " N , 134 ° 28 ′ 32.3" E
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