}
280px, Model of Nara period Saidai-ji
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 Saidiaji-Shiba neighborhood of the city of
Nara
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...
,
Nara Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...
, Japan. It became the head temple of the sect after the sect's founder, , took over administration in 1238.
The ''
honzon'' of the temple is a statue of
Shaka Nyorai, enshrined by Eison in 1249.
The temple was once one of the powerful
Seven Great Temples of the ancient capital of
Heijō-kyō.
History
According to the from 780, in September 764 when the retired
Empress Koken requested the construction of a gilt bronze statue of the
Four Heavenly Kings to pray for the end of the
Fujiwara no Nakamaro Rebellion. In October of the same year, Empress Koken re-enthroned as
Empress Shōtoku. The following year, in 765, the aforementioned statues of the Four Heavenly Kings were completed and Saidai-ji Temple was founded. These four statues are still enshrined in Saidai-ji's Shiōdō Hall, but only the demons that each statue steps on are from the time of the temple's founding, and the statues themselves have been replaced by later works. At the time of Saidai-ji's founding, the monk
Dōkyō held great influence in the political world, and it is believed that Dōkyō's ideological influence was also great in the construction of Saidai-ji Temple. The temple's name of "Saidai-ji" is a counterpoint to the great national temple of
Tōdai-ji and thus a challenge to the existing political and religious power structure. The temple in its initial form was a huge complex and was counted as one of the
Seven Great Temples of Nara. It has two Main Halls: the Yakushi Kondō and the Miroku Kondō, numerous smaller halls (including the Shio-do, Juichimen-do), and twin five-story pagodas on the east and west. According to the "Zaizairyuki-cho", these halls housed many Buddhist statues and were decorated with many mirrors. In the Miroku Kondō alone, a total of 77 Buddhist statues were placed, and the Yakushi Kondō housed 21 statues. However, the temple fell quickly into decline during the
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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...
, and many of its halls and pagodas were lost to fires and typhoons, and it came under the control of
Kofuku-ji.
The temple was restored in the
Kamakura period
The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...
by the monk
Eison. He began the restoration in 1238 over a 50 years period worked to transform the temple into a center for social welfare work, especially to help the poor and sick. Many of the Buddhist statues and crafts that remain at the temple today were created during the time of Eison. The temple also produced many noteworthy priests, such as
Ninsho, who worked to restore ruined temples of various provinces, including several of the ''
kokubunji'' temples. In the
Muromachi period, the temple was burned down in December 1499 during the wars of the early
Sengoku period, and its surviving East Pagoda was destroyed by a fire in 1502. 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 ...
, the temple received a fief of 300 ''
koku'' from the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.
The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...
and began reconstruction. All of the current temple buildings were rebuilt after the Edo Period.
Saidai-ji became independent from the
Shingon
is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō- ...
sect in June 1895, and established the Shingon Ritsu sect. The temple houses numerous
National Treasures and
Important Cultural Properties.
The precincts of Saidai-ji were designated a
National Historic Site in 1965.
Building list
*
Main Hall (Hondō – 本堂) –
Important Cultural Property. It was rebuilt in 1808.
*Shiō-dō (四王堂) – It was rebuilt in 1674.
*Aizen-dō (愛染堂) – It was reconstructed in 1762.
File:Saidai-ji Nara Japan03n.jpg, Shiō-dō
File:Saidai-ji5.JPG, Aizen-dō
File:Kishi Monju pentad (Saidaiji Nara).jpg, Manjushri Bodhisattva (Monju Bosatsu)
See also
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (crafts-others)
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (paintings)
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (sculptures)
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (writings)
*
Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples of Nanto.
*
Thirteen Buddhist Sites of Yamato
*
List of Historic Sites of Japan (Nara)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saidai-Ji
8th-century Buddhist temples
Buddhist temples in Nara, Nara
Shingon Ritsu temples
Historic Sites of Japan
Important Cultural Properties of Japan
8th-century establishments in Japan
Buddhism in the Nara period
765 establishments
Religious buildings and structures completed in the 760s
Temples of Gautama Buddha