is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple located in Uji,

Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...

, approximately a 5-minute walk from

Ōbaku Station is a train station located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and Keihan Electric Railway. It has the Keihan station number "KH75", and the JR West station number "JR-D08". Lines Ōbaku Station is ...

. It is the head temple of the Japanese

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 ...

school, and named after Wanfu Temple in

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

, China. The mountain is likewise named after

Mount Huangbo Mount Huangbo () is a mountain in Fuqing county of Fujian Province, in the East China region of the People's Republic of China. The mountain has many Buddhist temples, including Wanfu Temple (home of Yinyuan Longqi, founder of the Japanese ...

, where the Chinese temple is situated.

History

The temple was founded in 1661 by the Chinese monk Yinyuan Longqi (Ingen), officially opening in 1663. In 1664, control of the temple passed to Muyan, after which many Chinese monks followed as head priests. Only the fourteenth priest and his successors are Japanese. On May 21, 1673 (''Enpō 1, 5th day of the 4th month'') Yinyuan (Ingen) died at the temple. The art of ''

Senchadō is a Japanese variant of ''chadō'' ("way of tea"). It involves the preparation and drinking of ''sencha'' green tea, especially the high grade ''gyokuro'' type. History Towards the end of the 17th century in the Edo period, Chinese mercha ...

'' is closely tied to the temple due to its founder.

Architecture

The temple structures were constructed in

Ming China The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

's architectural style. The arrangement of buildings also follows Ming Dynasty architectural style, representing an image of a dragon. Wooden plate

The temple features an exemplary '' gyoban'' (fish board, used to toll the hours).

Art

The temple's main statue is a seated

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

. Sculptures by the Chinese sculptor known as Han Do-sei and latticed balustrades can also be seen. Above the gate of the temple is a carving of the Chinese Characters "義一第", (read right-to-left, "The First Principle") carved from the writing of Imakita Kosen and said to have been the artist's eighty-fifth attempt before he finally wrote with a mind free from the distraction of a pupil's criticism. The temple treasure house contains a complete collection of Buddhist scriptures commissioned by Tetsugen Doko and completed in 1678, comprising approximately 60,000 printing blocks which are still in use. The production of the printing blocks was funded by donations collected throughout the country for many years and through many troubles.

Gallery

Image:ManpukujiBalustrades.jpg, Balustrades, in style Image:Manpukuji2.jpg, Gate Image:ManpukujiAltar.jpg, Altar to Kansei Teikun Image:ManpukujiHotei1.jpg, Statue of

Hotei Hotei may refer to: *Hotei Station, a Japanese train station *Tomoyasu Hotei, a Japanese musician *Budai, known as "Hotei" in Japanese, a semi-historical monk and deity *''Coralliophila hotei'', a species of sea snail *''School Judgement: Gakkyu H ...

Notes

References

* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du Japon.'' Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 251800045
see also '' Imprimerie Royale de France,''

External links

Manpuku-ji
– official page

1661 establishments in Japan Buddhist temples in Kyoto Prefecture Obaku temples Religious organizations established in the 1660s Important Cultural Properties of Japan {{Zen-stub