is an

Ōbaku Ōbaku Zen or the Ōbaku school () is one of three main schools of Japanese Zen Buddhism, in addition to the Sōtō and Rinzai schools. The school was founded in Japan by the Chinese monk Ingen Ryūki, who immigrated to Japan during the Manch ...

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

temple in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Its honorary '' sangō'' prefix is .

History

The first temple built in Nagasaki was Kofukuji, built in 1623 by traders from the northern provinces of China, such as

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

and

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

. Fukusai-ji, the second temple, was founded in 1628 by members of the Nagasaki Chinese community, predominantly merchants from Southern Fujian and their families. It was built partially in response to the implementation of the anti-Christian motivated tearuke system that required citizens registered to prove their affiliation with a Buddhist temple. Temples would issue certificates that members were not Christian and, because of the long history of Christianity in Nagasaki specifically, the system was first implemented in Kyushu and Kyoto in 1638. The temple was built in part by the desire of the Chinese community to confirm that they were not Christian while maintaining a separate place of worship. The nearby Sōfuku-ji was constructed a few years later by the Northern Fujian community in 1632. The monk Mu'an (,1611-1684), the disciple of Ingen, became the abbot of Fukusai-ji in 1655 and remained in Nagasaki until 1660. In 1910, the main hall of the temple was designated as a

National Treasure of Japan Some of the National Treasures of Japan A is " Tangible Cultural Properties designated by law in modern Japan as having extremely high value." Specifically, it refers to buildings, arts, and crafts designated as especially valuable from ...

. The temple was completely destroyed in the

atomic bombing of Nagasaki On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civili ...

on 9 August 1945 at 11:02 am. It was subsequently rebuilt in 1979 with an 18-meter

aluminium alloy An aluminium alloy ( UK/IUPAC) or aluminum alloy ( NA; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There ...

statue of

Kannon Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

, the

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

of compassion, standing atop a spirit turtle. Inside is a

Foucault pendulum The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. If a long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circu ...

which swings over the remains of 16,500 Japanese killed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and in the atomic bombing of the city. At 25 meters, it is one of the largest Foucault pendulums in Japan. In honor of the victims of the atomic bomb, a bell is rung at 11:02 am each day.

References

Buddhist temples in Nagasaki Prefecture Obaku temples Religious buildings and structures in Nagasaki Buildings and structures in Japan destroyed during World War II 1628 establishments in Japan {{Japan-Buddhist-temple-stub