, is a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

located within the Buddhist temple of in the city of Iwaki,

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

, Japan. The Amida-dō is a

National Treasure A national treasure is a structure, artifact, object or cultural work that is officially or popularly recognized as having particular value to the nation, or representing the ideals of the nation. The term has also been applied to individuals or ...

and the temple, with its

paradise garden The paradise garden is a form of garden of Old Iranian origin, specifically Achaemenid which is formal, symmetrical and most often, enclosed. The most traditional form is a rectangular garden split into four quarters with a pond in the center, a ...

, has been designated an National Historic Site.

History

The temple of Ganjō-ji was built in 1160 by Princess Tokuhime, daughter of

Fujiwara no Kiyohira was a samurai of mixed Japanese- Emishi parentage of the late Heian period (794–1185), who was the founder of the Hiraizumi or Northern Fujiwara dynasty that ruled Northern Japan from about 1100 to 1189. Biography Kiyohira was the son of Fuj ...

of the Hiraizumi Fujiwara clan, as a memorial temple for her husband, Iwaki Norimichi. The temple was granted imperial status by

Emperor Go-Toba was the 82nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1183 through 1198. This 12th-century sovereign was named after Emperor Toba, and ''go-'' (後), translates literally as "later"; ...

, and was protected and patronized by successive of

Iwakitaira Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan.,Jansen, Marius B. (1994)''Sakamoto Ryōma and the Meiji Restoration,'' p. 401 based at Iwakitaira Castle in southern Mutsu Province in what is now part of modern ...

under 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 ...

in 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 converted at some point from the Pure Land to 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- ...

denomination and remains an active temple; however, the Pure Land Garden, including the pond, is now owned and managed by Iwaki City. The temple was closed to the public due to the damage caused by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

, but restoration was completed in July 2012 and the temple reopened.

Buildings

* Amida-dō (

); built in 1160. The building is a square structure with a

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

tented roof A tented roof (also known as a pavilion roof) is a type of polygonal hip roof, hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak.W. Dean EastmanHometown Handbook: Architecture./ref> Tented roofs, a hallmark of medieval religious archite ...

consisting of very thin layers of wood shingles. Inside, the walls were once covered with

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

paintings, of which only a fragment remains. Along with

Mōtsū-ji is a Buddhist temple of the Tendai sect in the town of Hiraizumi, Iwate, Hiraizumi in southern Iwate Prefecture, Japan, and also refers to the historic area surrounding it containing the ruins of two older temples, and in a Jōdo (Pure Land B ...

in Hiraizumi and a structure of Kōzō-ji in

Kakuda, Miyagi file:ロケット - panoramio.jpg, 250px, Taizan Park with H-II rocket is a cities of Japan, city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 28,539, and a population density of 190 persons per km2 in 11,494 ho ...

, it is one of only three surviving structures of 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 ...

in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of Japan. The Amida-do is surrounded by ponds on all three sides: east, west, and south, and there is a worship path from the south.

Treasures

Inside the Amidadō are five

statues A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture ...

: * Wooden Amida Nyōrai triad (

) ( Important Cultural Properties) * Wooden statue of Jikokuten (Heian period) (ICP) * Wooden statue of Tamonten (Heian period) (ICP)

Gardens

Between 1972 and 1982 archaeological investigations were conducted into the pond, pebble beach, ornamental stones, peninsula, central island, and bridges of the twelfth-century paradise garden.

Gallery

File:Shiramizu Amida-do Hall.jpg, Shiramizu Amida-do Hall File:白水阿弥陀堂 - panoramio (3).jpg, Garden File:Shiramizu-Amidado-kyoiki.jpg, Aerial photograph

References