, is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple belonging to the

Myōshin-ji is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, and head temple of the associated branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The Myōshin-ji school is by far the largest school in Rinzai Zen, approximately as big as the other thirteen branches combined: it contains wit ...

branch of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen,

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

located in the Aoi ward of the city of

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Its main image is a statue of

Amida Nyōrai Amida can mean : Places and jurisdictions * Amida (Mesopotamia), now Diyarbakır, an ancient city in Asian Turkey; it is (nominal) seat of : ** The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Amida ** The Latin titular Metropolitan see of Amida of the Roma ...

. It was the ''

bodaiji A in Japanese Buddhism is a temple which, generation after generation, takes care of a family's dead, giving them burial and performing ceremonies in their soul's favor.Iwanami kojien The name is derived from the term , which originally meant jus ...

'' of the

Imagawa clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan. Origins Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji, established himself in ...

, a powerful

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' clan. The temple is noted for its

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desi ...

, which is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty; however, the temple is only open to the public for two days each autumn, and it is not possible to view this garden other than during that period.

History

Rinzai-ji was founded in 1536, by

Imagawa Ujichika was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. He was the 10th head of the Imagawa clan of Suruga Province. Ujichika was the son of Imagawa Yoshitada. He was the husband of Jukei-ni. Biography In 1476, Ujichika father, Yoshitada, invaded ...

for his son,

Imagawa Yoshimoto was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the Sengoku period Japan. Based in Suruga Province, he was known as . he was one of the three ''daimyōs'' that dominated the Tōkaidō region. He died in 1560 while marching to Kyoto to become S ...

, on the site of a villa owned by his mother at the base of Shizuhata Castle. Yoshimoto had been sent into the priesthood as he was the third son, and was not regarded as being in the line of succession. His uncle, Sessai Chōrō was the founding priest. However, when both of Yoshimoto's elder brothers died, he returned to a secular life and became chieftain of the Imagawa clan after a bloody succession dispute. The temple continued to be used as the ''bodaiji'' for the clan. The temple was burned down in 1568 when the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

of Kai Province invaded Suruga Province. When the young

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

was held hostage in Sunpu by the

, he was sent to Rinzai-ji to be tutored by Sessai Chōrō. During the invasion of Suruga Province by the Takeda clan in 1568, Rinzai-ji was burned down. It was rebuilt by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1582. A number of buildings at the temple date from the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, including the current Main Hall and ''

Sanmon A , also called , is the most important gate of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, and is part of the Zen '' shichidō garan'', the group of buildings that forms the heart of a Zen Buddhist temple.JAANUS It can be often found in temples of other de ...

''.

Cultural properties

National Important Cultural Properties

Hondō

The Hondō of Rinzai-ji is an ''irimoya''-style structure from the early 17th century. It has a frontage of 22.7 meters ad a depth of 16.8 meters. It was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1983.

National Place of Scenic Beauty

Rinzai-ji gardens

The

at Rinzai-ji became a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty in 1936.

Gallery

File:Rinzai-ji3.jpg, Sanmon File:Rinzai-ji7.jpg, Hondō File:Rinzai-ji13.jpg, Rinzai-ji gardens File:Rinzai-ji15.jpg, Rinzai-ji gardens

References

External links

Shizuoka city home page
{{Authority control Buddhist temples in Shizuoka Prefecture Rinzai temples Myoshin-ji temples Shizuoka (city) Suruga Province Important Cultural Properties of Japan Places of Scenic Beauty