Tōchō-ji
The Tōchō Temple ( Tōchō-ji Japanese. 東 長 寺 ) is a Buddhist temple in the Japanese city of Fukuoka . According to tradition, it was founded by the monk Kūkai in 806 and is therefore the oldest temple of the Shingon school on the island of Kyushu . Its mountain name is Nangakuzan ( 南岳 山 , "south mountain").
history
Kūkai , who sailed to China with an official Japanese embassy in 804, was supposed to be doing Buddhist studies there for 20 years, but he returned to Japan in 806. After his arrival in Hakata he was therefore forced to wait for the Tennō's permission , in the hope that he would be forgiven for this idiosyncrasy in view of the valuable Buddhist scriptures he had brought with him and his successful studies. During the long wait he founded the Tōchō Temple at a location not far from the sea.
During the armed conflicts in the second half of the 16th century, however, the facility burned down. In 1601, the general Kuroda Nagamasu received the province of Chikuzen as a fief, which remained in the hands of his family until the end of the Edo period . His son Tadayuki arranged for the Tōchō temple to be rebuilt at a location further south and provided a stable economic basis with a forest of around 500,000 square kilometers and an annual travel income of 300 koku . Further lands were added under Kuroda Mitsuyuki.
Large parts of the complex went up in ashes towards the end of World War II . The area is significantly smaller than before, and several modern buildings were built in the course of the reconstruction. Completely new are u. a. the "Grand Buddha" ( Daibutsu ) and a pagoda.
Senju-Kannon
Among the ancient temple treasures we find a "thousand-armed Kannon" figure (Senju-Kannon) from the Heian period. It was made from a single block of wood and is 87 cm tall. In 1904 it was declared a national cultural treasure. As a "hidden Buddha" she is hidden in a shrine and can only be seen on the occasion of Kūkai's birthday.
Rokkaku-do
The "Hexagon Hall" ( Rokkaku-dō ) was built in 1842 on the initiative of the local dealer Bungoya Eizō. He collected money for this project from merchants throughout western Japan and placed the order with Itō Hirazaemon, who in the eighth generation of his family enjoyed an excellent reputation as a temple carpenter.
Inside the hall there is also a hexagonal, rotatable tabernacle. Usually scrolls were kept in such "hexagon halls". By turning the tabernacle one could earn “merits” as a believer. In the tabernacle of the Tōchō Temple, however, there are statues of Kūkai, the Shintō deity Hokushinreifu ( 北辰 霊 符 ), the Medicine Buddha ( Yakushinorai 薬 師 如 来 ), the "white-clad Kannon" ( Hakui Kannon 白衣 観 音 ), the Jizō-Boddhis Jizō bosatsu 地 蔵 菩薩 ) and of Monju Boddhisattva ( Monju bosatsu 文殊 菩薩 ). The inside of the hall can only be seen on the 28th of each month. This day is dedicated to the light king Fudōmyōō , who plays an important role in Shingon Buddhism and whose seated statue can be seen in the main hall of the temple to the left of the "Thousand-armed Kannon".
Grand Buddha
In 1988 they started with a statue of Shakyamuni Tathāgata made of the wood of the shell cypress, which was finished after four years with a height of 10.8 meters and a weight of 30 tons.
References and comments
- ↑ Tocho-ji shūzōhin mokuroku
- ↑ Shingon-shū bekkaku honzan Nankakuzan Tōchō-ji
- ↑ Shingon-shū bekkaku honzan Nankakuzan Tōchō-ji
literature
- Fukuokashi Kyōikuiinkai: Tōchō-ji shūzōhin mokuroku . Fukuoka 1993 ( 福岡 市 教育 委員会 『東 長 寺 収 収 蔵 品 目録』 )
- Photo Works: Tōchō-ji gojūtō - bekkaku honzan . Tōchō-ji, 2011 ( フ ォ ト ・ ワ ー ク ス 『東 長 寺 五 重 塔: 別 格 本 山』 東 長 寺, 2011 年 )
- Tōchō-ji: Shingon-shū bekkaku honzan Nankakuzan Tōchō-ji ( 真言 宗 別 格 本 山 南岳 山東 長 寺 )
