Kōra Bungo

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Kan'ei-ji Pagoda, before 2015

Kōra Bungo ( Japanese 甲 良 豊 後 , real name: Munehiro ( 宗 広 ); born 1574 in Kōra , Ōmi province ; died May 2, 1646 ) was a Japanese carpenter, architect and designer during the Edo period of Japan.

Live and act

Kōra Bungo, son of the carpenter Kōra Ujihito, was born in Kōra in what is now Shiga Prefecture. From 1596 he worked in building projects for the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu , where he distinguished himself and was appointed head carpenter with five subordinate carpenters who built the Taitokuin Reibyō ( 台 徳 院 霊 廟 ), the mausoleum for the second Shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada , erected. Kōra was mainly responsible for the design of the carving details. It is believed that Kōra - together with Heinouchi Masanobu ( 平 内 政 信 ; 1583-1645) - was appointed chief carpenter ( 大 棟梁 Daitōryō ) within the Shogunate. He then worked as one of the two supervisors from 1634 to 1636 with the design and construction of the Nikkō Tōshō-gū . - Another building that still exists is the five-story pagoda of Kan'ei-ji in the Ueno district of Tōkyō, which he built in 1639 with the help of his son Munehisa.

Kōra Bungo's descendants served under the Tokugawa government until the Meiji Restoration in 1868 as chief carpenters, under which numerous shogunal mausoleums, temples and shrines were built. Kōra's grandson, Kōra Buzen ( 甲 良 豊 前 ), was particularly gifted. Its masterpiece that still exists is the main hall of the Zenkō-ji in Nagano city from 1708.

The family style is known as the "Kenninji Style" ( 建 仁 寺 流 ). The family's work with the secret construction details is now in the Tōkyō Prefectural Library .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Located in the Ueno district of Tōkyō, the mausoleum was almost completely destroyed in the Pacific War.

literature

  • Tazawa, Yutaka: Kōra Bungo . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Kōra is the family name, Bungo the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Kōra, Bungo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 甲 良 豊 後 (Japanese); Kōra Munehiro (real name); 甲 良 宗 広 (real name, Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese carpenter, architect and designer during Japan's Edo period
DATE OF BIRTH 1574
PLACE OF BIRTH Kōra , Ōmi Province
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1646