Kaneiji

(also spelled Kan'eiji or Kaneiji) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1625 during the Kan'ei era by Tenkai, in an attempt to emulate the powerful religious center Enryaku-ji, in Kyoto. The main object of worship is .Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei

It was named in a reference both to the Enryaku-ji's location atop Mount Hiei (''Tōeizan'' means "Mount Hiei of the East"), and also after the era during which it was erected, like Enryaku-ji (named after the Enryaku year period). Because it was one of the two Tokugawa ''bodaiji'' (funeral temple; the other was Zōjō-ji) and because it was destroyed in the closing days of the war that put an end to the Tokugawa shogunate, it is inextricably linked to the Tokugawa ''shōguns''.

Once a great complex, it used to occupy the entire heights north and east of Shinobazu Pond and the plains where Ueno Station now stands.Seidensticker (1991:117) It had immense wealth, power and prestige, and it once consisted of over 30 buildings. Of the 15 Tokugawa shōguns, six are buried here.

Many temple structures were destroyed in the great Meireki fire of 1657.Kaneiji
Columbia University. Accessed June 13, 2008. A new hall was constructed inside the enclosure of Kan'ei-ji in 1698. The temple and its numerous annexes were almost completely destroyed during the Boshin War's Battle of Ueno and never restored. Much of the site where it once stood was confiscated and is now occupied by Ueno Park.

What is today the temple's main hall was taken from Kita-in in Kawagoe, Saitama, Kawagoe (Saitama Prefecture) and transferred to the site of a former Kan'ei-ji subtemple. Kan'ei-ji's five-story pagoda (photo above) and the Ueno Tōshō-gū shrine were amongst the gems of the old temple enclosure. Both stand undisturbed by the passage of years since the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.

The Shinobazu Pond itself and the Bentendō Temple which stands on its island used to be an integral part of Kan'ei-ji. Tenkai, liking Lake Biwa, had Benten Island built in imitation of Chikubushima, and then the Bentendō on it.Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu/Meiji Period
Shinobazu Pond
accessed on November 16, 2008 At the time the island was accessible only by boat, but later a stone bridge was added on the east, making it possible to walk to it. The Bentendō Temple was destroyed during World War II, and the present one is a reconstruction.

History

Tenkai wanted to create a powerful religious center and, to achieve that, he built Kan'ei-ji imitating Enryaku-ji. The temple was therefore erected north-east of Edo Castle to ward off evil spirits that were believed to come from that unlucky direction.

Tenkai's project enjoyed from the beginning the shogunate support, so much so that Tokugawa Hidetada in 1622 donated the land on which it was built. At the time, on that land there were the suburban residences of three ''daimyōs'', (Tōdō Takatora of the Tsu Domain, Tsu domain, Tsugaru Nobuhira of the Hirosaki Domain, Hirosaki domain and Hori Naoyori of the Murakami Domain, Murakami domain), but the land was expropriated and donated to Tenkai for the temple. He was also given 50 thousand silver Ryō and a building as a contribution.

The chief abbot's residence, the ''Honbō'', was built in 1625, which is considered the year of foundation of the temple. After that, several ''daimyōs'' contributed with the construction of other buildings. The main hall, called as in Enryaku-ji's case ''Konponchūdō'', was finished only in 1697.

In 1643, after Tenkai's death, disciple Kōkai took his place. His successor was Emperor Go-Mizunoo's third son Shuchōho Shinnō. From then on until the end of the shogunate, Kan'ei-ji's chief abbots were chosen among the Emperor's children or favorite nephews and called with the honorific .

Tokugawa and Kan'ei-ji

With the favor of the Tokugawa the temple prospered but, at least in the first years since foundation, it was just the Tokugawa family temple, while the sole funeral temple of the Tokugawa was still Zōjō-ji, where the second shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, Hidetada rests. His successor Tokugawa Iemitsu, Iemitsu sent his remains to Nikkō because the Nikkō Tōshō-gū, mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the dynasty, was there; he however also built a mausoleum at Kan'ei'ji. After that, the fourth ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ietsuna and the fifth Tokugawa Tsunayoshi were put to rest in Ueno, and Kan'ei-ji became a Tokugawa funeral temple like Zōjō-ji. Zōjō-ji didn't like the change, but after the next shogun Tokugawa Ienobu's mausoleum was built on its land, the custom became to alternate the temples at each generation, and that lasted until the closing of the shogunate era. Excepted Ieyasu and Iemitsu (buried in Nikkō, Tochigi, Nikkō) and last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Yoshinobu (also known as Keiki, buried in nearby Yanaka Cemetery), all of the Tokugawa ''shōguns'' are buried either at Zōjō-ji or Kan'ei-ji, six at one and six at the other. In what used to be the Kan'ei-ji cemetery near the Tokyo National Museum are interred Tokugawa Ietsuna, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Tokugawa Yoshimune, Tokugawa Ieharu, Tokugawa Ienari, Tokugawa Iesada and Iesada's wife Tenshō-in.Watanabe (2005:30) Ietsuna's and Tsunayoshi's mausoleums were destroyed in 1945. The cemetery is closed to the public, but can be seen from the street.

The last visit of a Tokugawa shogunate member was on the 8 August 1863 by Tenshō-in, for the memorial service of her husband Tokugawa Iesada.

Battle of Ueno and the destruction of Kan'ei-ji

In his book ''High City, Low City'' Japanologist Edward Seidensticker describes the last days and the destruction of Kan'ei-ji.

The revolutionary forces had occupied most of Tokyo, and Edo Castle and the majority of the Tokugawa troops had already surrendered, however one band of shogunate soldiers barricaded itself in Ueno with the intention to resist.Seidensticker (1991:27) About 2000 men strong, it was composed of members of the Shōgitai, a military unit of former Tokugawa retainers. They held the Kan'ei-ji's abbot in hostage, and maybe for this reason the Satsuma Domain, Satsuma and Chōshū Domain, Chōshū revolutionaries didn't attack immediately.

On July 4, 1868 (''Meiji 1, 15th day of the 5th month''),NengoCalc
: 明治一年五月十五日; n.b., the old lunar calendar date, used for example by Watanabe, was misidentified as May 15. the final attack came and from early morning artillery rounds fell from Hongo's heights on Ueno. After a fierce battle, in the late afternoon the revolutionary forces broke through the defenses in the south at the Black Gate (the ''Kuromon''), near what is today Ueno Park's entrance. There were altogether about 300 dead, mostly defenders. Most of the artillery rounds had gone astray, causing fires in which the whole Kan'ei-ji and up to a thousand houses were destroyed. The temple's abbot fled in disguise and left the city by boat.

See also

* Ueno Tōshō-gū

Notes

References

*
*
* Isaac Titsingh, Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], ''Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou
Annales des empereurs du Japon.
' Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
*

External links

Kaneiji official website
Japanese)

Kaneiji official website
English)


1959 recording of the Temple's bell at 6 AM from The Internet Archive.

Link to Japanese National Tourist Organization web page
*
* National Diet Library

* [http://www.nga.gov.au/MonetJapan/Detail.cfm?WorkID=J86 Link to "The battle of Toeizan Temple on Mount Sanno at Ueno," Yoshitoshi Tsukioka (1874)]

{{Commons category, Kan'ei-ji

Buddhist temples in Tokyo
Meiji Restoration
Buildings and structures in Taitō
Tendai temples
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1625
1625 establishments in Japan