Yama-dera

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Risshaku-ji
立石寺

The Risshaku-ji sutra repository and Founder's Hall
Information
Mountain name Hōjusan
Denomination Tendai
Venerated Yakushi Nyorai (Bhaiṣajyaguru)
Founded 860
People
Founder(s) Ennin
Location
Address 4456-1 Ōaza Yamadera, Yamagata, Yamagata Prefecture
Country Japan
Website http://www.yamaderakankou.com/

Yama-dera (山寺 lit. "Mountain Temple") is about a twenty-minute train ride (Senzan Line) northeast of Yamagata City, in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan at the foot of the steep hill Hōshū-yama. The temple is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site.[1]

The area is named after the common name of the temple of Risshaku-ji (立石寺), founded in 860 AD by the priest Ennin (円仁) (AD 793 or 794864), who is better known in Japan by his posthumous name, Jikaku Daishi (慈覺大師). In 847 he returned to Japan from China and in 854, he became the chief priest of the Tendai sect at Enryaku-ji. Risshaku-ji was founded as a branch temple of Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. Even today the ritual fires brought from Enryaku-ji are still burning in the main temple. It developed into the major Heian period (7941185) temple for rural Dewa province (now Yamagata and Akita prefectures).[2] This main temple, the Konpon-chūdō, an important cultural asset, is said to have been built in 1356 by Shiba Kaneyori, lord of Yamagata Castle. Most of Risshaku-ji was destroyed during the local wars of the early 16th century and it was rebuilt in 1543 under the monk Enkai. By the Edo period (1600–1868) Risshaku-ji was a powerful institution possessing a fief of 1,420 koku.[2]

The present Konpon-chūdō (Main Hall) is a Muromachi period (1333–1568) construction of beech, which is rare as a building material. The temples clinging to the steep rocky hillsides are picturesque and unusual. The thousand step climb through the dense cedar trees is worth making to the temples at the top and for the view from them. An important cultural asset, the Heian period seated wooden image of Yakushi Nyorai (the Buddha Bhaisajyaguru) is the principal image of the main temple. Yamadera holds many other important cultural assets in its treasure house, the Hihokan, including standing wooden images of Shaka Nyorai, Yakushi Nyorai and Amida Nyorai, a seated wooden image of Dengyo Daishi, a hanging wooden mandala of Buddha, and a stone monument of the Nyohō-kyō Sutra from 1144.[3]

A view halfway up the temple complex
View from the top (sutra repository in sight).

Yama-dera is where the well-known haiku poet Matsuo Bashō wrote his famous haiku "ah this silence / sinking into the rocks / voice of cicada" in 1689. A museum of Basho's writings and paintings and other related art, the Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum, is a short walk up the hill on the opposite side of the steep valley. In 1996 the Ministry of the Environment selected the cicadas of Yama-dera as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan.[4]

Access

References

  1. "山寺". Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  2. 1 2 Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan vol. 6 p. 320 and 321, 1983
  3. Tourism Section, Yamagata City Hall
  4. "100 Soundscapes of Japan" (in Japanese). Ministry of the Environment. Retrieved 8 February 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Risshaku-ji.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Yamadera.

Coordinates: 38°18′43″N 140°26′05″E / 38.31194°N 140.43472°E / 38.31194; 140.43472

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.