is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

located in the Ushimado neighborhood of the city of Setouchi,

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

, Japan. The temple's full name is , and it belongs jointly to the Hokkeshū Honmonryū branch of the Nichiren-shu of Japanese Buddhism.

History

The temple was founded in either 1338 or 1347 by Daikaku Daisōjō, the head priest of Myokenji Temple in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, who instructed Ishihara Sado-no-kami (who was of the local ruling family of Ushimado) on the

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. ...

). It appears in historical documents only from 1450, where it is styled the "Ushimado-ura Hokke-dō". The current Main Hall was reconstructed in 1492, and is a National Important Cultural Property, as are the Middle Gate and the East and West Banjin-dō chapels. The temple gardens were designed by

Kobori Enshū was a Japanese aristocrat, garden designer, painter, poet, and tea master during the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Biography His personal name was Masakazu (政一). In 1604, he received as inheritance a 12,000-''koku'' fief in Ōmi Province at K ...

Joseon missions to Japan

Since ancient times, Ushimado prospered as a port on the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

, where ships shelter while for waiting for winds and tides. These included the official diplomatic envoys from Korea to Japan, who were sent twelve times during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, and which, through interaction between the delegation and Japanese writers and scholars, which had a great impact on culture. The mission consisted of several hundred people, led by three ambassadors. The delegation traveled 2,200 kilometers each way from Hanyang to

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

, taking eight months to a year to make the round trip. The route was fixed:

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

to Tsushima,

Iki IKI may refer to: * Internationales Kulturinstitut, in Vienna * Iodine potassium-iodide, a chemical compound * Russian Space Research Institute, originally known as IKI RAN * Iki Airport, IATA code Iki or iki may refer to: * Iki Island, a Japane ...

, Ainoshima, Akama, via the Seto Inland Sea,

Kaminoseki 270px, View from the Kamisakari 270px, ''Shikairo'' is a town located in Kumage District, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan., the town had an estimated population of 2340 in 6947 households and a population density of . The total area of the town is ...

, Shimokamagari, Tomo, Ushimado, Murotsu, Hyōgo,

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. The delegation's boat then anchored, and the delegation transferred to river barges and headed up the

Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...

. After passing through

Ōtsu 270px, Ōtsu City Hall is the capital city of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,991 in 153,458 households and a population density of 740 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . History Ōtsu is ...

, and Kusatsu the delegation left the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

at Koshinohara in Yasu and passes through the

Chōsenjin Kaidō The was a travel route during the Edo period in Ōmi Province, Japan. It received its name because it was used about 12 times by representatives of the Joseon (朝鮮) Dynasty in modern-day Korea during the Joseon missions to Japan. It was also ...

. After

Hikone is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 111,958 in 49,066 households and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hikone is located in central Shig ...

, it returned to the

again at Toriimoto, and headed for Edo via the Tōkaidō via

Ōgaki is a city located in Gifu, Japan. As of October 31, 2018, the city had an estimated population of 161,539, and a population density of 782 persons per km2 in 65,931 households. The total area of the city was . Ōgaki was the final destination fo ...

and

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

. Of these sites relations to this journey, three locations were designated National Historic Sites in 1994: Fukuzen-ji in

Fukuyama Fukuyama may refer to: People * Francis Fukuyama, Japanese-American philosopher and political economist * Fukuyama (surname), other people with the name Places *Fukuyama, Hiroshima, city in Japan *Fukuyama, Kagoshima was a town located in Aira D ...

, Honren-ji in Ushimado, and

Seiken-ji , is a Buddhist temple belonging to the Myōshin-ji branch of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen, located in the Okitsu neighborhood of Shimizu-ku ward of the city of Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan. Its main image is a statue of Shaka Nyōrai. It i ...

Okitsu Okitsu (written: 興津 or 沖津) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese alpine skier *, Japanese voice actor See also * Okitsu Station, a railway station in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan * ...

. At the three temples mentioned above, artifacts such as plaques and Chinese poems left by delegation have been preserved. Ushimado only provided water and food during the first and second missions. For the third to the sixth missions, Honren-ji was a place of lodging for the three Korean envoys.Kang, Etsuko. (1997)
''Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century,'' p. 35.
/ref> The lodging place was moved to a teahouse from the seventh mission, but the temple continued to be used by lesser members of the mission and for meetings with dignitaries from

Okayama Domain 270px, Ikeda Akimasa 270px, Auditorium of the Shizutani School 270px, Kōraku-en was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now eastern Okayama Prefecture on the island of Honshu. It controlled all of B ...

. Nine scrolls of historical documents related to Korean envoys retained at the temple are designated as Okayama Prefectural Important Cultural Properties. In addition, Ushimado has a tradition of ''Karako Odori'', a folk dance which is said to have originated from the Korean envoys. File:Honren-ji (Setouchi), hondou.jpg, Hondō (ICP) File:Honren-ji (Setouchi), soshidou.jpg, Soshi-dō (Okayama Prefectural ICP) File:Honren-ji (Setouchi), tou.jpg, Three-story Pagoda (Okayama Prefectural ICP) File:Honren-ji (Setouchi), banjindou.jpg, Banshin-dō (ICP) File:Honren-ji (Setouchi), chumon.jpg, Middle Gate (ICP)

References

External links

Okayama Tourism

Journey of Setouchi City

{{in lang, ja Historic Sites of Japan Buddhist temples in Okayama Prefecture Nichiren-shū temples Bizen Province Setouchi, Okayama Okayama Prefecture designated tangible cultural property

History

Joseon missions to Japan

See also

Further reading

References

External links