Taicho

Taichō ( Japanese 泰 澄 ; * July 20, 682 ? ( Temmu 11/6/11); † April 20, 767 ? ( Jingo-Keiun 1/3/18)) was a Shugendō monk in Japan during the Nara period . His life is in the hagiography “Tradition of the priest Taichō” ( 泰 澄 和尚 伝 , Taichō Washō Den ). Numerous first ascents of Japanese mountains are ascribed to him, including those of the Kaga Haku-san volcano and Dainichigatake . The vernacular also calls him "virtuoso of the [mountain] transgressions" ( 越 の 大 徳 , Koshi no Daitoku ) or "virtuoso from Koshi". Koshi refers to the province of Koshi or its three successor provinces Echizen , Etchū and Echigo in which he was active. They shared the kanji ( 越 ) with her, but in the On reading Etsu .

Live and act

According to the hagiography, Taichō came from Asōzu ( 麻 生 津 ) in the central Japanese province of Echizen. He is said to have been the second son of Mikami Yasuzumi ( 三 神 安 角 ). At the age of 14 he is said to have internalized the teachings of Buddhism during his religious exercises on Mount Ochi-san ( 越 智 山 , Ochi-san ) by continually internalizing the eleven-headed Kannon . In the year 702 he was appointed "monk for the preservation of the state" ( 鎮 護 国家 の 法師 , chingo kokka no hōshi ). In the year 717 he followed the vision of a "Grand Bodhisattva Myōri" ( 妙理 大 菩薩 , Myōri Dai Bossatsu ) when climbing the Kaga Haku-san , who had called him to climb the summit. On the way he ordered his pupil Garyō at Awazu to build the Hōshi inn at a hot spring blessed by Yakushi Nyorai . The foundation of the "Temple at the peaceful spring" ( 平泉 寺 , Heisen-ji ) at the spring at which the Bodhisattva appeared to him dates back to the same year . He is still in the form of the shrine "Haku-san shrine at the temple for the Pacific Source" ( 平泉寺白山神社 , Heisen-ji Haku-san Jinja ) in Katsuyama of Fukui prefecture on.

In 722 he is said to have prayed for the sick Genshō -tennō to recover. His recovery was attributed to the success of his prayer and was given the name Shin'yū Zenshi ( 神 融 禅師 ). For the success of his prayers against the 737 rampant smallpox , he is said to have been raised to the rank of high priest ( 大 和尚 , dai-washō ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ History of Houshi. (No longer available online.) Hōshi , archived from the original on March 30, 2002 ; accessed on January 9, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• History of Taichō on Haku-san website (Japanese)