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KENCHOJI TEMPLE

Kenchoji Temple ranks first among Kamakura's so-called Five Great Zen Temples. Kenchoji Temple is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan.

Kenchoji Temple (建長寺) is a Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.  The Five Great Zen Temples were at the top of the Five Mountain System, a network of Zen temples started by the Hōjō Regents. Still very large, it originally had a full shichidō garan and 49 subtemples. This important temple was constructed on the orders of Emperor Gofukakusa and completed in 1253, fifth year of the Kenchō era, from which it takes its name. It was founded by Rankei Doryū, a Chinese Zen master who moved to Japan in 1246, spending some years in Kyushu and Kyoto before coming to Kamakura.

Kenchoji Temple Key Buildings and Attractions

Kenchoji Temple originally consisted of a shichidō garan with 49 subtemples, but most of these were lost in fires in the 14th and 15th centuries. It still is a classic example of a Zen garan with its buildings aligned north to south. The complex currently consists of ten subtemples. Its most important structures include (in order from the first gate):

  • The Sōmon (outer gate), where the ticket booths are, which was moved here from the Hanju Zanmai-in temple in Kyoto.
  • The Sanmon (Main Gate), built in 1754 with donations from all over the Kantō region. According to a popular legend, a badger helped raising the money transforming himself into a monk to repay the kindness of the temple's priests. For this reason, even today it is often called Tanuki Gate (狸門 Tanuki-mon).
  • The Bonshō (Temple Bell), cast in 1255, which is a National Treasure.
  • The Butsuden (lit. Buddha Hall), an Important Cultural Property which was moved to Kamakura from Zōjō-ji in Tokyo in 1647.
  • The Hattō (Dharma Hall), built in 1814, where public ceremonies are held. It is the largest Buddhist wooden structure in Western Japan.
  • The Karamon (Grand Gate), another Important Cultural Property, was brought here from Zōjō-ji together with the Butsuden.
  • The Hōjō (the head priest's living quarters), also moved from the Hanju Zanmai-in in Kyoto, used for religious ceremonies.
  • The Monastery, where monks are trained in meditation, which is however permanently closed to the public. It consists of a Zen-dō (meditation hall), of a kaisan-dō (founder's hall, a hall enshrining the temple's founder) and of the administrative offices.
  • The large Zen garden behind the Hōjō called Shin-ji Ike (心字池 Mind character pond) and which is shaped like the Chinese character for mind (心), was designed by famous Zen teacher, scholar, poet, and garden designer Musō Soseki.
  • A recent ceiling painting by Koizumi Junsaku (2003) portraying a dragon decorates the ceiling of the Hattō, the building behind the Butsuden. For this reason, the Hattō is often called Ryūō-den (龍王殿).

In front of the Butsuden stand some great Chinese juniper trees which have been designated Natural Treasures. At the time of the founding of the temple, these big trees were simple saplings brought from China by the founder Doryū. Underneath the biggest a great stone monument surrounded by chains commemorates those of Kamakura's citizens who died during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5.

The Hansobo

Near the end of the temple's garden, over a hill stands the Hansōbō, the temple's large protecting Shinto shrine[1]The enshrined spirit is the Hansōbō Daigongen[4][6]. The gongen was originally the tutelary spirit (chinju (鎮守/鎮主?)) of Hōkō-ji in Shizuoka and was brought here in 1890 by Aozora Kandō[4]. The statues on the stairs leading to the shrine represent Tengu, entities similar to goblins which accompany the gongen[4]. Some of the creatures have wings and a beak: they are a type of tengu called Karasu-tengu (crow tengu) because of the way they look[7]. On a clear day, from the shrine one can see Mount Fuji to the west, and Sagami bay and Izu Ōshima to the south[5]. The stones in the garden are full of names: they are those of the faithful who donated to the temple, and which used to belong to over 100 different religious organizations[4]. This area used to be the temple's Inner Sanctuary, which still stands among the trees at the very top of the hill and which can be reached going up the steep stairs that begin on the right of the shrine, in front of the Jizōdō[4]. Next to the sanctuary there's an observation deck from which, on clear days, are visible Kamakura, Yuigahama and Mount Fuji[4].
At the very end of the garden, next to the Hansōbō, on a small hill overlooking a lake stands the Kaishun-in[1][7]. This remote temple was built in 1334 and enshrines a statue of Monju Bosatsu[7].

The Sanmon Kajiwara Segaki-e

On the 15th of July (Obon, or the festival of the dead) Kenchō-ji celebrates the famous Sanmon Kajiwara Segaki-e (三門梶原施餓鬼会?) funerary ceremony[8]. The normal funeral rites take place early in the morning under the Sanmon gate[8]. Only at Kenchō-ji, they are later repeated expressly for the soul of Kajiwara Kagetoki, a Kamakura period samurai who died during the political turmoil that followed the death of Minamoto no Sanetomo[5].
The origins of the ceremony are said to go back to the days of Doryū[5]. The legend says that one day, right after the end of a segaki, (a Buddhist service in favor of suffering spirits) a ghostly figure appeared[5]. Having discovered that the segaki was already over, the warrior seemed so sad that the priest repeated the ceremony just for him[5]. Afterwards, the man revealed he was the ghost of Kajiwara Kagetoki[5].

(Article based on Wikipedia article and used under the GNU Free Documentation License)
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Last edited on 02/07/09