is a Buddhist temple of the

Shingon-shu Buzan-ha is a sect of Shingon Buddhism founded in the 16th century by the priest . The main Buzan-ha temple is Hase-dera in Sakurai, Nara. Today the Buzan-ha sect has 3000 temples, 5000 priests and two million followers. Its largest chapters outside Japa ...

sect in Yugawa, Kawanuma District,

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

, Japan.

History

Shōjō-ji was opened in 807 by the Hossō sect scholar-monk

Tokuitsu (781?-842?) was a scholar-monk of the Hossō sect of Buddhism in Japan. He is best known for his debates with other leading Buddhists of the time, Kūkai and Saichō, and for asserting a more orthodox view of Mahayana Buddhism based on the s ...

. The original name of the temple is not known, but the present name has been in use since medieval times. At the time of foundation it was a large temple forming a complete ''

Shichidō garan ''Shichidō garan'' is a Japanese Buddhist term indicating the seven halls composing the ideal Buddhist temple compound. This compound word is composed of , literally meaning "seven halls", and , meaning "temple". The term is often shortened to ...

'', many attached buildings, twelve houses for monks and more than 100 sub-temples. Today, the temple consists among others of the original auditorium (Yakushi Hall), the residence of the head priest (reception hall), the kitchen, the central gate (''chūmon'') and more than 30 Buddhist statues.

Buildings and cultural assets

Of the more than 30 Buddha statues at Shōjō-ji, 12 date from the early

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 ...

, and probably date from the original construction of the temple. It is very rare except for temples in

Kansai area The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropo ...

for a temple to have so many statues of such antiquity.

Yakushi-do

The current Yakushi-do is an early

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 ...

structure, and is designated as a National Important Cultural Property. However, the original thatched roof was replaced by copper sheathing in 1964. The location of this building is on the site of the Lecture Hall in the original temple layout, and there are traces of burn marks on the foundation stones, including that the temple burned down before this building was constructed.

Yakushi Sanzon

The main image at Shōjō-ji is a statue of

Yakushi Nyorai Bhaiṣajyaguru ( sa, भैषज्यगुरु, zh, t= , ja, 薬師仏, ko, 약사불, bo, སངས་རྒྱས་སྨན་བླ), or ''Bhaishajyaguru'', formally Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja ("Medicine Master ...

, flanked by Nikko Bosatsu and Gakko Bosatsu. The main Yakushi Nyorai image remains in the Yakushi-do, but the side statues have been transferred to storage for safekeeping. The main Yakushi Nyorai image is made from a block of

Zelkova serrata ''Zelkova serrata'' (Japanese zelkova, Japanese elm or keyaki or keaki; ja, 欅 (ケヤキ) keyaki /槻 (ツキ) tsuki; ; ko, 느티나무 neutinamu) is a species of the genus '' Zelkova'' native to Japan, Korea, eastern China and Taiwan.Flor ...

, divided front-to-back. The statue dates from the early 9th century and was designated a

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 1996.

Other statuary

Five statues and one group of four statues) at Shōjō-ji dating from the early Heian period have been designated national Important Cultural Properties: *

Four Heavenly Kings The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods, each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. In Chinese mythology, they are known collectively as the "Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn" () or "Sìdà Tiānwáng" (). In th ...

(group of four statues) * Juichimen Kannon Bosatsu * Sho Kannon Bosatsu * Jizo Bosatsu ("Longevity Jizo") * Jizo Bosatsu ("Rain-bringing Jizo") * Unidentified Bosatsu (possibly Kokuzo Bosatsu)

References