is a
ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
templeA temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
located in northwest
Kyotois a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area....
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Belonging to the
Myoshin-jiis a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan. The Myōshin-ji school of Rinzai Zen Buddhism is the largest school in Rinzai Zen. This particular school contains within it more than three thousand temples throughout Japan, along with nineteen monasteries. The head temple was founded in the year 1342 by the...
school of the Rinzai branch of Zen
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
, the temple is one of the
Historic Monuments of Ancient KyotoThe UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto encompasses 17 locations in Japan. The locations are in three cities: Kyoto and Uji in Kyoto Prefecture and Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. Thirteen are Buddhist temples; three are Shinto shrines and one is a castle...
, a
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...
.
The site of the temple was originally a
Fujiwara familyThe Fujiwara clan , descending from the Nakatomi clan, was a powerful family of regents in Japan. The clan originated when the founder, Nakatomi no Kamatari , was given the surname Fujiwara by Emperor Tenji...
estate. It eventually came into the hands of the
Hosokawa clanThe ' was a Japanese samurai clan, descended from Emperor Seiwa and a branch of the Minamoto clan, by the Ashikaga clan. It produced many prominent officials in the Ashikaga shogunate's administration. In the Edo period, the Hosokawa clan was one of the largest landholding daimyo families in Japan...
branch of the Fujiwaras.
Hosokawa Katsumoto' was one of the Kanrei, the Deputies to the Shogun, during Japan's Muromachi Period. He is famous for his involvement in the creation of Ryōan-ji, a temple famous for its rock garden, and for his involvement in the Ōnin War, which sparked the 130-year Sengoku period.His conflicts with his...
inherited the residence, and lived here before the
Ōnin WarThe ' was a civil war from 1467 to 1477 during the Muromachi period in Japan. A dispute between Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen escalated into a nationwide war involving the Ashikaga shogunate and a number of daimyo in many regions of Japan....
. Katsumoto willed the war-ravaged property to be converted into a Zen sect temple complex after his death.
is a
ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
templeA temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
located in northwest
Kyotois a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area....
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Belonging to the
Myoshin-jiis a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan. The Myōshin-ji school of Rinzai Zen Buddhism is the largest school in Rinzai Zen. This particular school contains within it more than three thousand temples throughout Japan, along with nineteen monasteries. The head temple was founded in the year 1342 by the...
school of the Rinzai branch of Zen
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
, the temple is one of the
Historic Monuments of Ancient KyotoThe UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto encompasses 17 locations in Japan. The locations are in three cities: Kyoto and Uji in Kyoto Prefecture and Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. Thirteen are Buddhist temples; three are Shinto shrines and one is a castle...
, a
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...
.
The site of the temple was originally a
Fujiwara familyThe Fujiwara clan , descending from the Nakatomi clan, was a powerful family of regents in Japan. The clan originated when the founder, Nakatomi no Kamatari , was given the surname Fujiwara by Emperor Tenji...
estate. It eventually came into the hands of the
Hosokawa clanThe ' was a Japanese samurai clan, descended from Emperor Seiwa and a branch of the Minamoto clan, by the Ashikaga clan. It produced many prominent officials in the Ashikaga shogunate's administration. In the Edo period, the Hosokawa clan was one of the largest landholding daimyo families in Japan...
branch of the Fujiwaras.
Hosokawa Katsumoto' was one of the Kanrei, the Deputies to the Shogun, during Japan's Muromachi Period. He is famous for his involvement in the creation of Ryōan-ji, a temple famous for its rock garden, and for his involvement in the Ōnin War, which sparked the 130-year Sengoku period.His conflicts with his...
inherited the residence, and lived here before the
Ōnin WarThe ' was a civil war from 1467 to 1477 during the Muromachi period in Japan. A dispute between Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen escalated into a nationwide war involving the Ashikaga shogunate and a number of daimyo in many regions of Japan....
. Katsumoto willed the war-ravaged property to be converted into a Zen sect temple complex after his death. Later Hosokawa emperors are grouped together in what are today known as the "Seven Imperial Tombs" at Ryoan-ji. The burial places of these emperors --
Udawas the 59th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 887 through 897.-Genealogy:Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Sadami-shinnō....
,
KazanEmperor Kazan was the 65th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He ruled from 984 to 986.-Genealogy:...
,
IchijōEmperor Ichijō was the 66th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession...
,
Go-SuzakuEmperor Go-Suzaku was the 69th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession...
,
Go-ReizeiEmperor Go-Reizei was the 70th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession...
,
Go-Sanjōwas the 71st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1068 through 1073....
, and
HorikawaEmperor Horikawa was the 73rd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1087 through 1107.-Genealogy:...
-- would have been comparatively humble in the period after their deaths. These tombs reached their present state as a result of the 19th century restoration of imperial sepulchers (
misasagi) which were ordered by
Emperor MeijiThe or Meiji the Great was the 122
nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death....
.
An object of interest near the rear of the monks quarters is the carved stone receptacle into which water for ritual purification continuously flows. This is the Ryōan-ji , which translates literally as "crouch;" and the lower elevation of the basin requires the user to bend a little bit to reach the water, which suggests supplication and reverence. The
kanjiare the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...
written on the surface of the stone are without significance when read alone. If each is read in combination with 口 (
kuchi), which the central bowl is meant to represent, then the characters become 吾, 唯, 足, 知. This is read as "ware tada taru (wo) shiru" and translates literally as "I only know plenty" (吾 = ware = I, 唯 = tada = only, 足 = taru = plenty, 知 = shiru = know). The meaning of the phrase carved into the top of the
tsukubai is simply that "what one has is all one needs" and is meant to reinforce the basic anti-materialistic teachings of Buddhism.
The absence of a dipper is intended to imply that the water is for the soul only and that it is necessary to bend the knee in humility in order to receive its blessing.
Dry landscape rock garden
To many, the temple's name is synonymous with the temple's famous
karesansui (dry landscape)
rock garden, that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples and old castles....
, thought to have been built in the late 1400s. The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder. (Also, if facing the garden from the far right and about 8 feet back a person of about 1.82m(6ft) in height can see all 15 boulders, though the small boulder farthest to the left appears to be part of the much larger boulder immediately next to it).
Analysis
In an article published by the science journal
NatureNature is a prominent British scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. Most scientific journals are now highly specialized, and Nature is among the few journals that still publish original research articles across a wide range of scientific...
, Gert van Tonder and Michael Lyons analyze the rock garden by generating a model of
shape analysisThis article describes shape analysis to analyze and process geometric shapes.The shape analysis described here is related to the statistical analysis of geometric shapes, to shape matching and shape recognition...
(medial axis transformation) in early visual processing.
Using this model, they show that the empty space of the garden is implicitly structured, and is aligned with the temple's
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
. According to the researchers, one critical axis of symmetry passes close to the centre of the main hall, which is the traditionally preferred viewing point. In essence, viewing the placement of the stones from a sightline along this point brings a shape from nature (a dichotomously branched tree with a mean branch length decreasing monotonically from the trunk to the tertiary level) in relief.
The researchers propose that the implicit structure of the garden is designed to appeal to the viewers unconscious visual sensitivity to axial-symmetry skeletons of stimulus shapes. In support of their findings, they found that imposing a random perturbation of the locations of individual rock features destroyed the special characteristics.
See also
- For an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhist art, and Japanese Buddhist temple architecture, see the Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
This is the glossary of Japanese Buddhism, including major terms the casual reader might find useful in understanding articles on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk are illustrated by an image in one of the photo galleries...
.
External links