is a

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- ...

temple in Hakata,

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Its honorary '' sangō'' prefix is . It was founded by

Kūkai , born posthumously called , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the Vajrayana, esoteric Shingon Buddhism, Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) und ...

in 806, making it the oldest

temple on the island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

History

According to tradition,

or Kobo-daishi set up this temple when he came back from China and prayed for the eastward dissemination of Tantric Buddhism. It was originally situated by the seaside, but after burning down at the end of the 16th century, it was relocated to the present site by Kuroda Tadayuki, the second lord of Chikuzen province. The second, the third, and the eighth lord of the Kuroda clan are buried here.

Senju kannon

The temple houses a

senju kannon Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as male in Indian ...

('thousand-armed Goddess of Mercy', Avalokiteshvara) statue made in the

Heian era 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 ...

. It was carved from a single log of Chinese black pine. The statue is only 87 centimeters in height but stands up with a stately atmosphere. As a "hidden Buddha" it is concealed and can only be seen during the birthday celebrations for Kūkai. In 1904, it was designated as a national treasure.

Rokkaku-dō

This is a hexagonal (''rokkaku'') building with revolving bookshelves for sutras and sculptures. In 1842, the local merchant Bungoya Eizō raised money from merchants throughout western Japan and invited a carpenter named Itō Hirazaemon to build this sanctum. The building is open on the 28th of every month

Daibutsu

The carving of a daibutsu, or large Buddhist statue, started in 1988 and it took four years to finish. The statue is 10.8 meters in height and 30 tons in weight. After the daibutsus 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 ...

and

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

, this is the largest statue of a seated Buddha in Japan. The ring of light behind the Buddha stands 16.1 meters in height and is carved with numerous images of Buddha. Besides the statue is a treasure exhibition hall. File:Tocho-ji-Hakata.jpg File:Gojunoto Tower of Tochoji Temple in January 2019.jpg File:Gojunoto Tower of Tochoji Temple 2.jpg File:Toucyou Buddhist temple 2011PA.jpg File:Daishido Hall of Tochoji Temple 2.jpg File:Rokkakudo Hall of Tochoji Temple 2.jpg File:東長寺 - panoramio.jpg File:Tochōji-Rokkakudo-internal-tabernacle.jpg,

File:Cherry trees in Tochoji Temple.JPG File:ChikuzenMeishozue-2-Tochoji.jpg, 1821

External references

Yokanavi.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tocho-Ji Buddhist temples in Fukuoka Prefecture Shingon Buddhism Buildings and structures in Fukuoka Tourist attractions in Fukuoka