Anraku-ji (Ueda)
Encyclopedia
is a Buddhist temple
of the Sōtō school
in Bessho Onsen, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture
, Japan
. It is the oldest Zen temple in Nagano Prefecture. The main hall
(hon-dō) has a thatched roof and enshrines an image of Sakyamuni flanked by Manjusri
and Samantabhadra
as principal object of worship.
Anraku-ji is best known for having the only extant octagonal pagoda
in Japan.
(1200s), Anraku-ji was the center of learning in Shinano Province
educating many priests with the support of the Hōjō clan
in Kamakura
until that clan was overthrown in 1333.
pent roof enclosure. Its roofs are covered with hinoki cypress
shingles. The inside contains an octagonal Buddhist altar
which together with the pagoda and a munafuda ridge tag with information on the building's construction has been designated as National Treasure in 1952.
: One shows, Enin, a Chinese priest who came to Japan with Shōkoku Isen to become the second abbot of Anraku-ji; the other is of the Zen priest Isen who went to China for studies in the mid-Kamakura period and returned in 1246 together with Rankei Doryū, founder of Kenchō-ji
. Unlike later sculptures, both show a high degree of realism. They are enshrined in the Denpō-dō (伝芳堂) hall.
sutra
repository from 1784. Built to store sutras copied by the priest Tetsugen purchased from Mampuku-ji
, the building is 5.4 m (17.7 ft) square, plastered
and has a copper roof. Inside it contains an octagonal revolving sutra shelf (rinzō) said to have been designed by the . The building and rinzō have been designated as Cultural Assets of Ueda City.
, the two-storey bell tower (shōrō
) with a skirt like
lower storey (hakamagoshi type) is one of the largest in the area. The original Edo period
bell was used as scrap metal in World War II. The present bell was cast by Katori Masahiko in 1957.
so that they could acquire the same merit without going on pilgrimage to Shikoku
. They had statues made in Kyoto and distributed to various temples in Shioda. Out of 88 images, 7 are found at Anraku-ji. In addition, the temple owns a set of sixteen rakan also from the Edo period
.
A letter from Rankei Doryū to Shōkoku Isen written in classical Chinese
showing the close relationship between the two is held by the temple:
Buddhist temples in Japan
Along with Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples are the most numerous, famous, and important religious buildings in Japan.The term "Shinto shrine" is used in opposition to "Buddhist temple" to mirror in English the distinction made in Japanese between Shinto and Buddhist religious structures. In...
of the Sōtō school
Soto
Sōtō Zen , or is, with Rinzai and Ōbaku, one of the three most populous sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.The Sōtō sect was first established as the Caodong sect during the Tang Dynasty in China by Dongshan Liangjie in the 9th century, which Dōgen Zenji then brought to Japan in the 13th century...
in Bessho Onsen, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture
Nagano Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is the oldest Zen temple in Nagano Prefecture. The main hall
Main Hall (Japanese Buddhism)
Main hall is the term used in English for the building within a Japanese Buddhist temple compound which enshrines the main object of veneration. Because the various denominations deliberately use different terms, this single English term translates several Japanese words, among them Butsuden,...
(hon-dō) has a thatched roof and enshrines an image of Sakyamuni flanked by Manjusri
Manjusri
Mañjuśrī is a bodhisattva associated with transcendent wisdom in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Esoteric Buddhism he is also taken as a meditational deity. The Sanskrit name Mañjuśrī can be translated as "Gentle Glory"...
and Samantabhadra
Samantabhadra
Samantabhadra , is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism...
as principal object of worship.
Anraku-ji is best known for having the only extant octagonal pagoda
Tō
The , sometimes also called or is the Japanese version of the Chinese pagoda, itself an interpretation of the Indian stupa. Pagodas are quintessentially Buddhist and an important component of Japanese Buddhist temple compounds but, because until the Kami and Buddhas Separation Act of 1868 a...
in Japan.
History
In the mid Kamakura periodKamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
(1200s), Anraku-ji was the center of learning in Shinano Province
Shinano Province
or is an old province of Japan that is now present day Nagano Prefecture.Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces...
educating many priests with the support of the Hōjō clan
Hojo clan
See the late Hōjō clan for the Hōjō clan of the Sengoku Period.The in the history of Japan was a family who controlled the hereditary title of shikken of the Kamakura Shogunate. In practice, the family had actual governmental power, many times dictatorial, rather than Kamakura shoguns, or the...
in Kamakura
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...
until that clan was overthrown in 1333.
Pagoda
The temple's three storied pagoda is the only extant octagonal pagoda in Japan. Built at the end of the Kamakura period in Zen style, its lowest roof is a mokoshiMokoshi
In Japanese architecture a , literally "skirt story" or "cuff story", is a decorative pent roof surrounding a building below the true roof. Since it does not correspond to any internal division, the mokoshi gives the impression of there being more floors than there really are...
pent roof enclosure. Its roofs are covered with hinoki cypress
Chamaecyparis obtusa
Chamaecyparis obtusa is a species of cypress native to central Japan.It is a slow-growing tree which grows to 35 m tall with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter. The bark is dark red-brown...
shingles. The inside contains an octagonal Buddhist altar
Butsudan
A butsudan is a shrine commonly found in temples and homes in Japanese Buddhist cultures. A butsudan is a wooden cabinet with doors that enclose and protect a gohonzon or religious icon, typically a statue or painting of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, or a "script" mandala scroll...
which together with the pagoda and a munafuda ridge tag with information on the building's construction has been designated as National Treasure in 1952.
Statues of Enin and Isen
Two wooden seated statues of priests made in 1329 by a carpeter named Hyobu have been designated as Important Cultural PropertiesImportant Cultural Properties of Japan
The term is often shortened into just are items officially already classified as Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and judged to be of particular importance to the Japanese people....
: One shows, Enin, a Chinese priest who came to Japan with Shōkoku Isen to become the second abbot of Anraku-ji; the other is of the Zen priest Isen who went to China for studies in the mid-Kamakura period and returned in 1246 together with Rankei Doryū, founder of Kenchō-ji
Kencho-ji
Kenchō-ji is a Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, which ranks first among Kamakura's so-called Five Great Zen Temples and is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan. These temples were at the top of the Five Mountain System, a network of Zen temples started by the Hōjō...
. Unlike later sculptures, both show a high degree of realism. They are enshrined in the Denpō-dō (伝芳堂) hall.
Kyōzō
The temple includes a kyōzōKyōzō
in Japanese Buddhist architecture is a repository for sūtras and chronicles of the temple history. It is also called , , or . In ancient times the kyōzō was placed opposite the belfry on the east-west axis of the temple. The earliest extant kyōzō is at Hōryū-ji, and it is a two-storied structure....
sutra
Sutra
Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...
repository from 1784. Built to store sutras copied by the priest Tetsugen purchased from Mampuku-ji
Mampuku-ji
is a temple located in Uji, Kyoto. It is the head temple of the Japanese Ōbaku Zen sect, named after Wanfu Temple in Fujian, China. The mountain is likewise named after Mount Huangbo, where the Chinese temple is situated.-History:...
, the building is 5.4 m (17.7 ft) square, plastered
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
and has a copper roof. Inside it contains an octagonal revolving sutra shelf (rinzō) said to have been designed by the . The building and rinzō have been designated as Cultural Assets of Ueda City.
Bell tower
Built in 1769 in a mix of Zen and Japanese styleWayō
is the name given to a style developed in art and architecture in Japan during the Heian period, mainly by the esoteric sects Tendai and Shingon. Together with Zenshūyō and Daibutsuyō, it is one of the three most significant styles developed by Japanese Buddhism on the basis of Chinese models.The...
, the two-storey bell tower (shōrō
Shōrō
The or is the bell tower of a Buddhist temple in Japan. It can also be found at some Shinto shrines, as for example Nikkō Tōshō-gū. Two main types exist, the older , which has walls, and the more recent or , which does not.-History:...
) with a skirt like
Hakama
are a type of traditional Japanese clothing. They were originally worn only by men, but today they are worn by both sexes. Hakama are tied at the waist and fall approximately to the ankles. Hakama are worn over a kimono ....
lower storey (hakamagoshi type) is one of the largest in the area. The original Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
bell was used as scrap metal in World War II. The present bell was cast by Katori Masahiko in 1957.
Other
In 1693 important men of Shioda district decided to have similar Buddhas to those found on the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimageShikoku Pilgrimage
The or is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long history, large numbers of pilgrims still undertake the journey for a variety of ascetic,...
so that they could acquire the same merit without going on pilgrimage to Shikoku
Shikoku
is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
. They had statues made in Kyoto and distributed to various temples in Shioda. Out of 88 images, 7 are found at Anraku-ji. In addition, the temple owns a set of sixteen rakan also from the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
.
A letter from Rankei Doryū to Shōkoku Isen written in classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
showing the close relationship between the two is held by the temple: