Rokuharamitsu-ji

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Main building with statue of an eleven-headed Kannon in the foreground

The Rokuharamitsu-ji ( Japanese. 六 波羅蜜 寺 ) is a Buddhist temple in the city of Kyoto , Kyoto Prefecture in Japan . In German, the temple name means "Temple of the six perfections". The temple is associated with the Shingon-shu Chizan-ha religion .

The main portrait of the temple is a statue of the eleven-headed Kannon . The Rokuharamitsu-ji is the 17th temple of the Saigoku pilgrimage route ( 西 国 三十 三 箇 所 , Saigoku sanjūsankasho ).

overview

During a plague outbreak in 951, the Buddhist priest Kūya is said to have carved the main portrait of an eleven-headed Kannon .

To accommodate this figure, he founded the Rokuharamitsu-ji under the name Saiko-ji in 963 near the Toribeno cemetery. In 977 the temple became a branch temple of Enryaku-ji and was given its current name. During the 12th century, an extensive district developed around the Rokuharamitsu-ji, in which mainly members of the Taira clan lived. In the Gempei War , the temple was therefore completely burned down and only rebuilt in 1363. The temple was badly damaged in the fighting of the early Meiji period and it was not completely renovated until 1969.

The Rokuharamitsu-ji owns a number of important Japanese cultural assets. Some of these are shown in a small museum on the temple grounds. These include:

  • wooden seated sculpture by the sculptor Unkei from the Kamakura period ,
  • wooden seated sculpture by the sculptor Tankei from the Kamakura period,
  • wooden sculptures of the four kings of heaven ( Shitennō ) from the Heian period ,
  • wooden sculpture of a Bhaisajyaguru from the Heian period,
  • wooden standing sculpture of Ksitigarbha from the Heian period,
  • wooden seated sculpture of Kūkai by the sculptor Chōkai, Kamakura period,
  • wooden seated sculpture of Kūya from the Kamakura period,
  • Sculpture of Yama from the Kamakura period,
  • Sculpture of the Kisshōten (see Lakshmi ) from the Kamakura period.

Other works of art, such as the seated figure of a priest, which is said to represent Taira no Kiyomori , are currently in the Tokyo National Museum .

Some important annual temple festivals are:

  • 1st - 3rd January: Obuku-cha - tea ceremony in memory of the healing tea that Kūya is said to have poured.
  • 8-10 August: Manto-e - Festival of the dead with a light ceremony
  • 13.-31. December: Kakure Nembutsu - Nembetsu singing

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tazawa, Yutaka: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art . Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .

literature

  • Patricia Frame Rugola: The Saikoku Kannon Pilgrimage Route . Dissertation, Ohio State University, 1986.
  • Valeria Jana Schwanitz and August Wierling: Saigoku. On the way in Japan's western lands . Manpuku-Verlag, Potsdam 2012, ISBN 978-3-9815168-0-7 .

Web links

Commons : Rokuharamitsu-ji  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 34 ° 59 ′ 50 ″  N , 135 ° 46 ′ 24 ″  E