Kikō-ji
{{Short description|Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan}}
{{Infobox religious building
| name = Kikō-ji
喜光寺
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| image = Kikou-ji 20131101.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Hondō, early Muromachi period (ICP)
| map_type =
| map_size =
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| location = 508 Sugawara-chō, Nara, Nara Prefecture
| coordinates = {{coord|34.68478|135.77764|format=dms|type:landmark_region:JP|display=title,inline}}
| religious_affiliation = Hossō
| deity = Amida Nyorai (Amitābha)
| country = Japan
| functional_status =
| website = http://www.kikouji.com/index.html
| founded_by = Gyōki
| year_completed = 721
}}
{{nihongo|Kikō-ji|喜光寺}} is a Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan. Founded in the eighth century, its Muromachi-period Hondō and the Heian-period statue of Amida Nyorai enshrined within are Important Cultural Properties.
Name
Initially known as {{nihongo|Sugawara-dera|菅原寺}}, the temple is said to have been renamed after a visit in 731 by Emperor Shōmu, when a wondrous ray of light shone forth from the brow of the honzon.{{cite book |title=Buddhist Hagiography in Early Japan: Images of Compassion in the Gyoki Tradition |author=Augustine, Jonathan Morris |publisher= Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0415322454}}{{cite book |title=The Evolution of Buddhist Architecture in Japan |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1386 |author=Soper, Alexander Coburn III |author-link=Alexander Soper |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1942 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1386/page/n265 247], 248, 255}}
History
Gyōki is said to have founded the temple in 721 and to have died there in 749. The Hondō was re-erected in the early Muromachi period. For a long time temple lay in the midst of rice fields.{{cite web |url=http://repository.nabunken.go.jp/dspace/bitstream/11177/554/1/BA67898227_2009_152_154.pdf |title=喜光寺の調査 |trans-title=Survey of Kikōji |language=Japanese |publisher=Nabunken |accessdate=26 November 2015}}
Buildings
The three by two bay Hondō, with tiled hipped roof and mokoshi, is unusual among wayō style buildings in being open, like the Tōdai-ji Daibutsuden, for its full height (without the need occasioned by the latter's daibutsu), in being so narrow and shallow relative to its height, and in having an open porch extending across its entire front. An early Muromachi period rebuild, it was dismantled for repair and reconstruction in 1933. It has been designated an Important Cultural Property.{{cite book |title=The Roof in Japanese Buddhist Architecture |author=Parent, Mary Neighbour |publisher=Weatherhill |year=1983 |pages=188, 189, 284}}{{cite web |url=https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/102/2493 |script-title=ja:喜光寺本堂 |trans-title=Kikōji Hondō |language=Japanese |publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs |accessdate=26 November 2015}}
Treasures
In the Hondō are a seated wooden statue of Amida Nyorai dating from the Heian period (ICP), flanked by Kannon and Seishi of the Nanboku-chō period.{{cite web |url=https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/201/4156 |script-title=ja:木造阿弥陀如来坐像 |trans-title=Seated Wooden Statue of Amida Nyorai |language=Japanese |publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs |accessdate=26 November 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.kikouji.com/hotokesama/hotokesama.html |script-title=ja:喜光寺の仏様 |trans-title=Buddhist Images of Kikōji |language=Japanese |publisher=Kikōji |accessdate=26 November 2015}}
References
{{commons category|Kikōji}}
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{in lang|ja}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20150907003840/http://www.kikouji.com/index.html Kikō-ji]
{{Buddhist temples in Japan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiko-ji}}
Category:8th-century Buddhist temples
Category:Buddhist temples in Nara, Nara
Category:8th-century establishments in Japan
Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in the 720s