Tōkei-ji

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Main hall of Tōkei-ji

The Tōkei-ji ( Japanese. 東 慶 寺 ) is a Buddhist temple in the Yama-no-uchi ( 山 ノ 内 ) district of the Japanese city ​​of Kamakura (Kanagawa Prefecture), not far from the Kita-Kamakura train station .

It has belonged to the Engaku-ji branch of the Rinzai-shū since the Meiji period . Until then, Tōkei-ji was particularly known as a monastery for Bhikkhuni (nuns); as Kakekomi-dera ( 駆 け 込 み 寺 ; temples where women could seek refuge) or Enkiri-dera ( 縁 切 り 寺 ; temples where women could file for a divorce from their husbands on their own initiative, a process of two or three Years) the monastery enjoyed the protection of Bakufu : The temple area was extraterritorial in the Edo period and was not subject to the jurisdiction of the local government. Men were only allowed to enter the premises for the O-Bon .

In addition to the Mantoku-ji in today's Ōta (Gunma), the Tōkei-ji was the only institution of its kind in Japan.

history

The Tōkei-ji was according to own records in 1285 by Hōjō Sadatoki ( 北 条 貞 時 ; 1272-1311), ninth Shikken and son of Hōjō Tokimune (1251-1284), founded. First head was Kakusan Shidō ( 覚 山 志 道 ; 1252-1306), wife of Tokimune, with a Buddhist name Kakusan-ni ( 覚 山 尼 ; about "sister Kakusan").

An alternative theory claims that the temple was actually founded earlier by Mino no Tsubone ( 美濃 局 ), an aunt of Minamoto no Yoritomos (1147–99).

In the history of the monastery, women from the highest strata of society have held the office of headmistress, for example the fifth headmistress , Yodo -ni ( 用 堂 尼 ;? –1396), a daughter of Go-Daigo - tennō (1288 –1339), who entered the monastery as a nun after her older brother, Morinaga -shinnō ( 護 良 親王 , also Moriyoshi-shinnō; 1308-35), was killed by Ashikaga Tadayoshi (1306-52). Under Yodo-ni, the monastery was also known under the name Matsugaoka Gosho ( 松 ヶ 岡 御所 ; after the Kun reading of the mountain name (山 号, sangō ) of the temple ( 松岡 山 , Shōkōzan in the On reading ) and the name for the imperial temple ( 御所 , gosho )).

The 20th headwoman was Tenshu -ni ( 天 秀 尼 ; 1609–45), a daughter of Toyotomi Hideyori ( 豊 臣 秀 頼 ; 1593–1615), who went to the monastery after her previous home, Ōsaka-jō , by Tokugawa Ieyasu ( 1542–1616) had been destroyed, her father had to commit seppuku and her brother had been beheaded. Tenshu-ni was allegedly spared because she was female and her adoptive mother, Sen -hime ( 千 姫 ; 1597–1666), as the daughter of Tokugawa Hidetadas (1579–1632) Ieyasu's granddaughter. Ieyasu established the patronage of Tōkei-jis by the Tokugawa-Bakufu , under which the monastery flourished during the Edo period .

The end of the Edo period also meant the end of the special status of Tōkei-ji. The new Meiji government repealed the Tokugawa-Bakufu's guaranteed special rights for Tōkei-ji in July 1871. In May 1873, under the new civil law, Japanese women were allowed to request a divorce themselves, and divorces were declared a purely secular matter. These events caused the early decline of Tōkei-ji, towards the end hardly any nuns lived there. In 1902 the monastery was placed under the jurisdiction of the nearby Engaku-ji .

As the first man in over 600 years, the monk Furukawa Gyōdō ( 古 川 尭 道 ; 1872–1961), previously head of Engaku-ji, in 1903 became head of Tōkei-ji. Under his successor, Shaku Sōen ( 釈 宗 演 ; 1860-1919), the former nunnery finally became a normal Zen temple for both sexes.

architecture

The main hall ( 太平 殿 , Taihei-den ) is in the architectural style hōgyō-zukuri ( 宝 形 造 or 方形 造 ). It houses a statue of Shaka Nyorai as Go- Honzon as well as statues of Kakusan-ni and Yodo-ni on its side.

In the Kannon Hall called Suigetsu-dō ( 水月 堂 ) there are statues of Suigetsu Kannon ( 水月 観 音 ) and Shōtoku Taishi (574–622), but these are only very rarely open to the public.

In the nearby treasure hall called Matsugaoka-hōzō ( 松 ヶ 岡 宝 蔵 ), several cultural artefacts are on display, including old divorce documents, a 135 cm tall wooden statue of Shō Kannon ( 聖 観 音 ) with adornments made of clay called domon ( 土 文 ) the late Kamakura period , which was originally the Go-Honzon of the Taihei-ji ( 太平 寺 ) monastery , until it had to close in 1556 due to armed conflicts.

Other artifacts show special lacquer paintings ( 蒔 絵 , maki-e ), including the Hatsune Maki-e Hitorimo ( 初 音 蒔 絵 火 取 母 ), a pumpkin-shaped censer from the Muromachi period and the Budo Maki-e Seibei-bako ( 葡萄 蒔 絵 聖餅 箱 ), a Jesuit , cylindrical host box .

The cemetery ( 墓 苑 , fukubo ) of the temple, where numerous Japanese personalities were buried in the last century, has gained particular popularity . Below is a short selection of the most famous among them:

Personalities buried in the cemetery (selection)
Surname Name (jap.) Life dates description
Watsuji Tetsurō 和 辻 哲 郎 1889-1960 Moral philosopher and cultural historian
Iwanami Shigeo 岩 波 茂雄 1881-1946 Founder of the Iwanami Shoten publishing house
Nishida Kitaro 西 田 幾多 郎 1870-1945 Philosopher and spiritual father of the so-called Kyōto school
Abe Yoshishige 安 倍 能 成 1883-1966 Literary scholar and Japanese Minister of Education in the Shidehara cabinet
Ataka Yakichi 安 宅 弥 吉 1873-1949 Entrepreneur and President of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki 鈴木 大 拙
Suzuki Daisetsu 		1870-1966 Pioneer in spreading Zen Buddhism outside of Japan.
Takami Jun 高見 順 1907-1965 writer
Ōta Mizuho 太 田 水 穂 1876-1955 Poet and literary scholar
Maeda Seison 前 田 青 邨 1885-1977 Nihonga painter
Saigusa Hiroto 三 枝 博 音 1892-1963 Marxist philosopher and historian of technology
Tamura Toshiko 田村 俊 子 1884-1945 feminist writer
Kawada Jun 川田 順 1882-1966 Entrepreneur and Tanka poet
Daimatsu Hirobumi 大 松 博 文 1921-1978 Politician and volleyball coach for the Japanese women's national team during the 1964 Summer Olympics
Nakagawa Zennosuke 中 川 善 之 助 1897-1975 Lawyer and President of Kanazawa University
Kobayashi Hideo 小林 秀雄 1902-1983 Literary critic
Oda Mikio 織田 幹 雄 1905-1998 Track and field athlete and Olympic champion

literature

  • Sachiko Kaneko, Robert E. Morrell: Sanctuary: Kamakura's Tōkeiji convent . In: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies , 10 / 2-3 1983, pp. 195–228, nanzan-u.ac.jp (PDF; 505 kB)
  • Sachiko Kaneko, Robert E. Morrell: Tōkeiji: Kamakura's 'Divorce Temple' in Edo Popular Verse . In: George J. Tanabe, Jr. (Ed.): Religions of Japan in Practice . Princeton Readings in Religions , Princeton University Press, Princeton 1999, ISBN 0-691-05788-5 , pp. 523-550.
  • Sachiko Kaneko Morrell, Robert E. Morrell: Zen sanctuary of purple robes - Japan's Tokeiji convent since 1285 . State Univ. of New York Press, Albany 2006, ISBN 0-7914-6827-5 ( table of contents )

Web links

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

Coordinates: 35 ° 20 ′ 6.9 ″  N , 139 ° 32 ′ 44.3 ″  E