is a

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

of the Tendai sect in Kasai, Hyōgo, Japan. It was first established in 650 at

Emperor Kōtoku was the 36th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 孝徳天皇 (33)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. The years of his reign lasted from 645 through 654. Traditional narrative Before Kōtoku's ascen ...

's request, and the temple complex and buildings have undergone several periods of destruction and reconstruction since its founding, with most of its present structures dating to the 16-17th century. It is famous for its

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

three-storied

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoi ...

, built in 1171 in the '' wayō'' style of Japanese architecture and designated a National Treasure of Japan. Other important building in the temple complex include the ''kondō'' (main hall), built in 1628 by order of

Honda Tadamasa was a Japanese '' daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who ruled the Kuwana Domain and then the Himeji Domain. He was the son of Honda Tadakatsu. Tadamasa's first battle was during the Siege of Odawara, in 1590; he also fought at the Battle ...

, the lord of

Himeji Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle complex situated in the city of Himeji which is located in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of ...

, and three other smaller structures, ''Gohōdō'', ''Myokendō'' and ''Bentendō'', and a ''

gorintō ("five-ringed tower") is a Japanese type of Buddhist pagoda believed to have been first adopted by the Shingon and Tendai sects during the mid Heian period. It is used for memorial or funerary purposesKōjien Japanese Dictionary and is therefore ...

'', all of them built between the

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kama ...

and

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...

s and designated Important Cultural Properties. Ichijō-ji is temple No. 26 in the Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage, following

Kiyomizu-dera is a Buddhist temple located in eastern Kyoto, Japan. The temple is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) UNESCO World Heritage site. History Kiyomizu-dera was founded in the early Heian period. By ...

and preceding Engyō-ji.

History

Ichijō-ji is said to have been founded in 650 by the Indian priest Hōdō Sennin at

's instruction. Hōdō visited

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

in 649 and prayed for the ill Emperor Kōtoku. When the Emperor regained his health, the priest earned his trust, and had him establish several buddhist temples in the Hyogo prefecture, including the previous stop in the Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage,

. The three-storied

was built in 1171, in the late

. It is believed that the temple was originally built at the foot of Mt. Kasamatsu, 2.5 kilometers north, where a temple now called Furubokke-ji (Old Lotus Temple) is located. But at least by the time the pagoda was completed, Ichijō-ji had already been moved to its present location. The datation of other surviving structures at Ichijō-ji, including the ''Gohōdō'' (1275-1332), ''gorintō'' (1321), ''Bentendō'' (1393-1466) and ''Myokendō'' (1467-1572) show the temple's continuous growth during the

and

s. In 1523 the temple complex, with the exception of the pagoda, burned down due to civil wars of the

Sengoku period The was a period in 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 feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...

. 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 nominall ...

'' of Harima, Akamatsu Yoshitsuke, rebuilt many of the building in 1562. The complex was again destroyed by fire in 1628, and once more only the three-storied pagoda survived. That same year, in 1628,

, the ''

'' of the

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km². The total area of the city i ...

and Kuwana Domains and lord of

, rebuilt the main hall (''kondō''), which survives to this day. The bell tower, which has also survived, was completed the next year. The historic and artistic value of some of the buildings at Ichijō-ji were recognized by the

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The ...

of Japan during the 20th century. During the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, in 1901, the three-storied pagoda was designated an Important Cultural Property. In 1913 ( Taishō period), the three building behind the ''kondō'' were designated as separate Important Cultural Properties. In the

Shōwa period Shōwa may refer to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufacturer, affiliated with the Honda keiretsu Japanese eras * Jōwa (Heian ...

, the pagoda was promoted to the category of

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundam ...

in 1952 under the new 1951 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. The ''

'' dated from 1321 was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1953, and the ''kondō'' in 1983.

Architecture

Three-storied pagoda

The oldest and most important structure at Ichijō-ji is its . The original pagoda was destroyed during the conflicts leading to the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed hi ...

, and rebuilt soon after using donations collected by the wandering '' kanjin'' priest, as imperial patronage of Ichijō-ji had ended with the rise of the new military ruling class. It was completed in 1171 in the late

, using architecture. This style was developed during the

, mainly by the

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

sects Tendai and

Shingon Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

, and coined in the

Kamakura 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 '' shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

to distinguish it from the newer

zenshūyō is a Japanese Buddhist architectural style derived from Chinese Song Dynasty architecture. Named after the Zen sect of Buddhism which brought it to Japan, it emerged in the late 12th or early 13th century. Together with Wayō and Daibutsuyō, ...

and daibutsuyō styles of architecture. The pagoda is 3x3 ken, and has a ''hongawarabuki'' roof, a tile roof composed of flat broad concave tiles and semi-cylindrical convex tiles covering the seams of the former. Inside the pagoda there is a central pole standing up to the third floor, symbolic of

Mount Sumeru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...

, the center of the universe in the

Buddhist cosmology Buddhist cosmology describes the planes and realms in which beings can be reborn. The spatial cosmology consists of a vertical cosmology, the various planes of beings, into which beings are reborn due to their merits and development; and a hori ...

. The spire at the top of third floor continues the pole. It was designated a National Treasure of Japan in the category of temples in 1952, following its designation as an Important Cultural Property in 1901.

Kondō

The main hall of Ichijō-ji is its . The original building was destroyed by fire in 1523 and then again in 1628. The present main hall was rebuilt by order of

in 1628. The pine and cypress timber used for its construction were brought from

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

and

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), ...

. It is a 9x8 ken single-storied building in the ''irimoya'' and ''kake-zukuri'' style, with ''hongawarabuki'' roof, and a typical example of main hall buildings from the early

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 character ...

. It is the largest main hall on the Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage. A

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

damaged the building in 1999. During the subsequent survey of the structure other problems were discovered, including damage due to

white ant ''White Ant'' ( Chinese: 白蟻─慾望謎網) is a 2016 Taiwanese drama film and the narrative feature film debut of Chu Hsien-che, who worked as a documentarian for more than 20 years prior to ''White Ant''. The film stars Wu Kang-jen, Aviis ...

s and rotting in the structural beams. The kondō was carefully dismantled and restored between 1999 and 2007, preserving as much of the original materials as possible. The main hall was finally reopened in 2007. It was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1983. File:Ichijoji Kasai29s5s3200.jpg, Kondō (view from the front) File:Ichijō-ji kondō 3.jpg, view from the back File:Ichijō-ji kondō (inside) 1.jpg, inside the kondō File:Ichijō-ji kondō 2.jpg, view from the side Ichijō-ji Bentendō 1

Bentendō and Myokendō

These two

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more '' kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, mean ...

buildings are located together directly northwest of the kondō. The is the older and smaller of the two, located to the left. It is dated from the 1393-1466 in the middle

. Bentendō are temples or shrines dedicated to Benten or

Benzaiten Benzaiten ('' shinjitai'': 弁才天 or 弁財天; '' kyūjitai'': 辯才天, 辨才天, or 辨財天, lit. "goddess of eloquence"), also simply known as Benten (''shinjitai'': 弁天; ''kyūjitai'': 辯天 / 辨天), is a Japanese Buddhist ...

, the syncretic goddess of wealth, happiness, wisdom and music in

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoist ...

and

japanese Buddhism Buddhism has been practiced in Japan since about the 6th century CE. Japanese Buddhism () created many new Buddhist schools, and some schools are original to Japan and some are derived from Chinese Buddhist schools. Japanese Buddhism has had ...

. This small 1x1 ken building employs the

kasuga-zukuri is a traditional Shinto shrine architectural style which takes its name from Kasuga Taisha's ''honden''. Description It is characterized by the use of a building just 1x1 '' ken'' in size with the entrance on the gabled end covered by a verand ...

style of architecture. The , located on the right, dates from 1467-1572 in the late

. It enshrines Myōken, a bosatsu (

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schoo ...

) who is the deification of the

North Star Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude tha ...

. It is slightly larger with 3x1 ken, and uses the sangensha style of

nagare-zukuri The or is a traditional Shinto shrine architectural style characterized by a very asymmetrical gabled roof () projecting outwards on one of the non-gabled sides, above the main entrance, to form a portico (see photo).

architecture. Both buildings were designated an Important Cultural Properties in April 1913.

Other buildings

* Gohōdō - Important Cultural Property *

Gorintō ("five-ringed tower") is a Japanese type of Buddhist pagoda believed to have been first adopted by the Shingon and Tendai sects during the mid Heian period. It is used for memorial or funerary purposesKōjien Japanese Dictionary and is therefore ...

- Important Cultural Property * Jōgyōdō *

Kaizandō A , also termed the Founder's Hall, is a temple structure in a Japanese Buddhist monastery complex or other temple where an image (or images) of the founding abbot and other significant teachers and Buddha ancestors are kept,Kinoshita, 58 alo ...

* Taishidō * Bell tower

Gallery

File:Ichijoji Kasai28n4272.jpg, Jōgyōdō File:Ichijoji Kasai14n4272.jpg, Bell tower File:Ichijoji Kasai20ss4272.jpg, Kaizandō File:Ichijoji Kasai02n4272.jpg, Kasa-Tōba

Notes

External links

Ichijō-ji at Sacred Japan
(Japanese)
法華山一乗寺かさい観光Navi
(Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ichijo-ji 7th-century establishments in Japan National Treasures of Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan Tendai Tendai temples Pagodas in Japan Buddhist temples in Hyōgo Prefecture 7th-century Buddhist temples Religious buildings and structures completed in 650