Sonshō-ji
{{Short description|Buddhist temple in Japan}}
{{Nihongo|Sonshō-ji|尊勝寺|Sonshō-ji}} is a TendaiAbe, Ryuichi. (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=d0Y6HzToa-0C&dq=Sonsh%C5%8D-ji&pg=PA380 The Weaving of Mantra: Kukai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse, p. 380.] Buddhist temple in northeastern Kyoto, Japan, established by Emperor Horikawa in fulfillment of a sacred vow.Paine, Robert Treat et al. (1981). [https://books.google.com/books?id=pO6ErY9hE7gC&dq=Sonsh%C5%8D-ji&pg=PA346 The Art and Architecture of Japan (3rd edition), p. 346.] It is known as one of the {{Nihongo|"Six Victorious Temples"|六勝寺|Rokushō-ji}},Adophson, Mikael S. (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=kjT8_78YAwAC&dq=Sonsh%C5%8D-ji&pg=PA388 The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan, p. 388 n99.] which encompass monasteries enjoying extravagant Imperial patronage from their inception. They are sometimes identified as the "Superlative Temples" or the "Shō Temples" because of the middle syllable of the temple name.McCullough, Helen Craig. (1988). [https://books.google.com/books?id=D5Oqj3TsMlUC&dq=Sonsh%C5%8D-ji&pg=PA485 The Tale of the Heike, p. 485]; Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall. (1998). [https://books.google.com/books?id=YBLTFS1DfRYC&dq=sonsho-ji&pg=RA1-PA216 Hiraizumi: Buddhist Art and Regional Politics in Twelfth-century Japan, p. 216 n13.]
History
Sonshō-ji was founded in the early Heian period.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869, p. 114. Saishō-ji and the other Rokushō-ji establishments had a particular function within the Imperial {{Nihongo|"cloister government"|院政|insei}}. The Rokushō-ji were "sacred vow temples" (gogan-ji) built by imperial command following a precedent established by Emperor Shirakawa's
Hosshō-ji. Although these temple complexes were ostensibly established for a presumptively pious purpose,
:the relationship of Emperors Shirakawa, Toba, Sutoku, and Konoe with Hosshō-ji and the other "imperial vow" temples and with the imperial residences that adjoined the temple complexes is quite revealing. Clearly the temples were not built simply as acts of piety but as ways of protecting estate income and a certain style of life. Evidently the building of new temples could serve as a coercive device to extract support from other kuge families and to justify the use of public taxes for the benefit of members of the imperial-house, the religious intent giving support to the political interest.Hall, John et al. (1974). Medieval Japan: Essays in Institutional History, p. 21.
The Rokushō-ji were also called the six "Superiority Temples;" and each were uniquely dedicated to an aspect of esoteric Buddhist ontology, as in
- the "Superiority of Buddhist Law"Varley, H. Paul. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley), p. 200. --
: {{Nihongo|Hosshō-ji|法勝寺|Hosshō-ji}}, founded by Emperor Shirakawa in 1077.Takagaki, Cary Shinji. (1999). [https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/13266/1/NQ41322.pdf "The Rokusho-ji, the six superiority temples of Heian Japan," p. 2.]
: Sonshō-ji, founded by Emperor Horikawa (Shirakawa's son) in 1102.
: {{Nihongo|Saishō-ji|最勝寺|Saishō-ji}}, founded by Emperor Toba (Shirakawa's grandson) in 1118.
: {{Nihongo|Enshō-ji|円勝寺|Enshō-ji}}, founded by Imperial consort Taiken-mon'in (Shirakawa's adopted daughter and the mother of Emperor Sutoku) in 1128.
: {{Nihongo|Jōshō-ji|成勝寺|Jōshō-ji}}, founded by Emperor Sutoku (Shirakawa's great-grandson) in 1139.
: {{Nihongo|Enshō-ji|延勝寺|Enshō-ji}}, founded by Emperor Konoe (Shirakawa's great-grandson) in 1149.
Construction of the main Amitabha Hall at Sonshō-ji in Kyoto took two years.Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0422/is_n4_v77/ai_17846053/pg_29 "The Phoenix Hall at Uji and the symmetries of replication," The Art Bulletin (December 1995), n37.]
See also
Notes
{{reflist|2}}
References
- Hall, John Whitney and Jeffrey P. Mass, eds. (1974). [https://books.google.com/books?id=J-tO9pOjzmsC Medieval Japan: Essays in Institutional History.] New Haven: Yale University Press; [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50635949?referer=di&ht=edition OCLC 50635949]. [reprinted by Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-1511-9}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/isbn/0804715114 OCLC 18576991]
- Iwao, Seiichi, Teizō Iyanaga, Susumu Ishii, Shōichirō Yoshida, et al. (2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=fW9v37poqcQC Dictionnaire historique du Japon.] Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose. {{ISBN|978-2-7068-1632-1}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/isbn/2706816325 OCLC 51096469]
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). [https://books.google.com/books?id=OpOdHQAACAAJ&q=Kyoto:+The+Old+Capital+of+Japan,+794-1869 Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869.] Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society. [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/36644 OCLC 36644]
- Takagaki, Cary Shinji. (1999). [https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/13266?mode=full&submit_simple=Show+full+item+record "The Rokusho-ji, the six superiority temples of Heian Japan."] (University of Toronto PhD thesis, http://hdl.handle.net/1807/13266). Ottawa: National Library of Canada/Bibliothèque nationale du Canada.
- Varley, H. Paul, ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-04940-4}}
{{Buddhist temples in Japan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonsho-ji}}
Category:12th-century Buddhist temples