Horyu-ji Temple; a peaceful temple with a legacy

Horyu-ji temple is the oldest existing wooden-built temple in Japan, as well as in the world, and it is the first world heritage site in Japan. “The oldest existing wooden-built temple” is synonymous of Horyu-ji Temple, but the significance of Horyu-ji Temple exceeds the value of the length of the passage of the time. The meaning of this world heritage site is the legacy of the man, Shotoku-Taishi, who had endeavored to build a peaceful country with Buddhism in the dawning period of the beginning of the unity of this country, Japan.
The beautiful scenes of Horyu-ji Temple 
Standing on the wide path to “Chu-mon” after passing through the big gate, “Nandai-mon”, a sign of the legacy spreads widely in front of you. There is a silent, clearness and peaceful atmosphere. You may perceive something noble as well.
Heading in the temple you can first see the five tiered pagoda of Buddhism. This pagoda is one of the most beautiful pagodas of Buddhism in Japan. It has a stable and noble shape. The stable essence is in the schemes of building it, especially the roof forms. Each shaping angle of the roofs gradually increase in degrees from the bottom to the top. So the pagoda maintains beautiful balance of appearance.
Nearby the pagoda there is a building called “Kondo”. The building has four carved wooden dragon pillars between two roofs and carved wooden animal statues at each corner of the roof top. And it has an adorned roof at the bottom which is smaller than the first roof. It adds a beautiful accent to the building.
Walking on the path to “Dai-kodo” between the pagoda and “Kondo” and upon looking back, you can see the Japanese original form of beauty, asymmetry. I am Japanese and I feel that the asymmetrical three buildings make a beautifully balanced form with rhythm. What do you think from the picture?
The nobility of the temple comes from the sense of beauty from whole to details. Please look at the picture above. There is a pillar which was made so that the middle is wider than the circumference of the bottom and it tapers off. This form is called “entasis”, we can see it at the Pantheon of Athens. Hence, was the entasis of Greece transported to Japan? However, there was no historic ruins of entasis in the area between Greece and Japan during that time, so it seems that the e恂ntasis of Horyu-ji Temple was originally created. You can find many entasis pillars in the temple.
A famous statue of Boddhisattva of Compassion



There is a famous statue of Boddhisattva of Compassion, which is called “Kannon-bosatsu” in Japanese, in the temple. It is unknown who made it, nor when it was made nor where it was set. Nonetheless, it came to the temple and it became the representative statue of Horyu-ji Temple. That said, it is thought that the time when it was made was roughly the same as the time when the temple was built. The statue was very tall and very thin, then the form of the statue is more unique than other statues of Buddhism. Most strikingly, the aspect of the statue is very relaxed. The right arm is curved at a right angle and the left hand holding a pot are especially characteristic, and we can’t see this kind of form in any other statues of Buddhism. The lean of the pot is in motion, it might have been caught at the moment when the left arm holding the pot swung back and forth. I was impressed by the statue at the first viewing in my boyhood time. And the former President of France, Jacques Chirac, was deeply impressed by the statue at his first viewing before he was elected as the president, and he endeavored to exhibit it to French people. At last he succeeded and many French people saw it at The Louvre Museum.

The former president Chirac died this summer, but his love of Japanese culture remains in Japanese people’s hearts and the peaceful beauty of Horyu-ji Temple never diminishes.

The location of Horyu-ji Temple



The location of Horyu-ji Temple is called “Ikaruga”, it was the governmental capital at that time when the founder of the temple, Shotoku-Taishi, governed Japan as the leader of The Imperial Court. This place is located south of Nara City .

 The revival of the temple
However, after Shotoku-Taishi’s death Soga-no-Iruka and his supporters devastated the town, so all of his family members were killed by them and the temple was burned to ashes. This accident was involved in the power struggle of the governance and the post of the emperor.

However, Soga-no-Iruka and his supporters were killed by the great futuristic emperor, Temmu. At last he rebuilt Horyu-ji Temple and revived the honor of Shotoku-Taishi. Thus, Horyu-ji Temple is the symbol of revival.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Karuta competitions by the 100 Poems

Image
I saw on TV news that many young foreigners competed karuta competitions by the 100 Poems. I was surprised at that, as well as I was interested why they played karuta competitions and why they knew how to play. Because karuta competitions are so difficult that the number of those who play the game isn’t large even in Japan. Eventually, I never have played karuta competitions. Incidentally, the 100 Poems, “hyakunin-issyu” in Japanese, are familiar with Japanese People. Japanese people in most cases learn the 100 Poems in their junior high-schools or high-schools, and they sometimes play a game of competing accuracy and quickness with several people that players grab a card written with the only second phrases of a poem from cards on tatami listening to full phrases of a poem. Of course I learned the 100 Poems in my junior high school and sometimes played the game, but I was a weak player of karuta games. Karuta competitions are a severer sport than the game above, so the sport dema
Read more

Warikan Custom In Japan

Image
Culture in a country is the result made by the specific customs based on the thoughts of the people, if it is true, to try to look out for the specific custom of a country where you visit is a joyful challenge during your traveling time. When I visited foreign countries I experienced the different customs from Japan and I was happy to know it. Many anthropologists say that Japanese culture is especially different from cultures of other countries. Then foreigners visiting Japan will feel pleasure by finding out the different customs from their countries. Warikan is the one specific Japanese custom. Warikan is to split the bill among members who ate dishes and drank in restaurants and it is generally a popular custom in Japan. I have a foreign friend who has been in Japan from Australia and I sometimes have drinking parties with him. He knows Japanese customs but perhaps his true sense depends on western customs. At paying the bill when I suggested “sloping warikan” to him as a mat
Read more

Satsuma-biwa music

Image
Hiromi Hakozaki, who is a Satsuma-biwa player, played biwa music at the machiya of Onishi-tune-shoten and explained how biwa instruments became its present form. I want to write about one of Japan’s specific sound instruments according to her explanation. Before my explanation I want to mention my impression after listening to her play, I said to her in this way. “The sounds of Satsuma-biwa is calm in terms that it allows a human physiological phenomenon like that blood pressure will be peaceful, but is very deep in terms that it lets the human spirit vibrate strongly.” Biwa v.s. Lute Biwa(Japanese lute) came far from Persia in the 8th century via The Silk Road. The picture above is an ancient Persian lute instrument(front and back) which is stored as a national treasure in Syosoin next to Todaiji or Kasuga Shrine in Nara City from the 8th century. There is an opinion that the lute in Syosoin is the original biwa(lute). And the long history for thirteen centuries in Japan tra
Read more