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While Tokimune Hojo (1251-1284) was the de facto ruler of Japan as the Eighth Regent of the Hojo regime, Mongolian troops under the command of Kublai Khan (1215-1294), grandson of Genghis Khan (1167-1227), attacked northern part of Kyushu island in 1274 and again in 1281. They failed to invade Japan owing to timely typhoons. However, the word popularly denotes those pilots of the legendary suicide bombers who attacked to ruin the Allied Fleet during World War II, and further today's reckless taxi drivers), tens of thousands of warriors were killed during the battle.
Tokimune even executed Kublai's envoy summoning them to Kamakura. To propitiate the souls of the war victims including those of enemy's, he founded this Zen temple in 1282. As the founding priest, he invited Priest Sogen Mugaku (1226-1286), a Chinese Zen Buddhist (Wu-hsueh Tsu-yuan in Chinese), then living in southern China where freedom of religion was suppressed under the Kublai government.
Since Zen Buddhism was cordially protected by Tokimune and well accepted by the samurai class, the Temple flourished during the entire Kamakura Period (1192-1333). No doubt Zen would not have flourished in Kamakura had not been for his contribution. Priest Mugaku's eulogy on Tokimune at his funeral ceremony may sum up his personality. Zen and Japanese Culture written by Daisetz Suzuki {dye-seh-tsu soo-zoo-key} (1870-1966), a famous theologian, reads like this: "There were ten wonders in his life, which was the actualization of a Bodhisattva's great vows: he was a filial son to his mother; he was a loyal subject to his Emperor; he sincerely looked after the welfare of the people; studying Zen he grasped its ultimate truth; wielding an actual power in the Empire for twenty years, he betrayed no signs of joy or anger; sweeping away by virtue of a gale the threatening clouds raised by the barbarians (Mongolian attack), he showed no feeling of elation; establishing the Temple, he planned for the spiritual consolation of the dead both for Japanese and Mongolian; paying homage to the teachers and fathers of Buddhism he sought for enlightenment - all this proves that his coming among us was solely for the sake of the Dharma."
Even after the Hojo regime came to an end in 1333, Priest Soseki Muso {soh-seh-key moo-soh} (1275-1351), then the chief priest, was so influential as a Zen master that he earned confidence of the Imperial Court as well as the new Shogunate. (Back at the time, Tenryuji was being built in Kyoto for the repose of emperor Godaigo's souls and Priest Muso was named as the founder. Tenryuji is the head temple of Tenryuji school of Rinzai Sect). Thus, the Temple was able to maintain its status as a leading Zen monastery. It is recorded that in 1383 more than 1,500 people attended the memorial service held here for Priest Muso's 32nd anniversary of death. As was the case in other temples, Engakuji was ravaged time and again by fires and earthquakes. Further, it had to weather hardships in the 14th to 16th century with no financial support from the rulers then in power. Entering the Edo Period (1603-1868), the Temple was again protected by the Tokugawa Shogunate and was able to restore some of the Temple's structures. To name a few, the Main Hall was rebuilt in 1625 and Hojo (living quarter for chief priest) in 1673. But, the great earthquake in 1703 destroyed most of the structures, though they were restored shortly afterward.
When Priest Kosen Imagita {koh-sen e-mah-ghe-tah} (1817-1893) assumed the post of the chief priest, he renovated the Temple, making it the most influential Zen monastery in eastern Japan. His immediate disciple named So-en Shaku {soh-en shah-koo} (1859-1920) attended the world religious convention held in Chicago in 1893 as a representative from Japan and introduced Zen Buddhism to the world's religious leaders, thereby many foreigners started to appreciate Japanese Zen.
Shortly before the Yokosuka Line of Japan Railways was constructed in 1889, the Temple had to yield part of its grounds. A small pond lying on the other side of the railway tracks near the Temple is still a part of Engakuji property and is called Byakurochi (egret pond). The Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 again devastated almost all of the Temple structures, and therefore, most of the current ones were rebuilt during the past three-quarters of the century. In its heyday, the Temple owned 42 sub-temples other than the main structures and its acreage reached approximately 200 hectares. Today, it has 17 sub-temples. Naturally, it keeps a number of important assets and the whole Temple enclosure is designated as a Historic Spot by the National Government.
Over the past 700 years, the Temple was ravaged at least by ten major fires, and if other calamities like earthquakes are included, such a calamity occurred every 50 years on average. In Kamakura, there are the Big-Five Zen temples and the Temple ranks second, accommodating today more than 200 priests. Among today's Rinzai sects, Engakuji school is one of the biggest and has no fewer than 200 affiliated temples throughout Japan. |
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It is very close to the Kita-Kamakura railway station on the Tokyo to Yokosuka line, and indeed the railway tracks cut across the formal entrance to the temple compound, which is by a path beside a pond which is crossed by a small bridge.
The temple was founded in 1282 by a Chinese Zen monk at the request of the then ruler of Japan, the regent Hōjō Tokimune after he had repelled a Mongolian invasion in the period 1274 to 1281. Tokimune had a long-standing commitment to Zen and the temple was intended to honour those of both sides who died in the war, as well as serving as a centre from which the influence of Zen could be spread. According to the records of the time, when building work started a copy of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment (in Japanese, engaku-kyō 円覚経) was dug out of the hillside in a stone chest during the initial building works, giving its name to the temple.
The fortunes of the temple have waxed and waned over the centuries. Its present form is owed to the Zen priest Seisetsu, who reconstructed and consolidated it towards the end of the Edo era. In the Meiji era, Engaku-ji became the chief centre for Zen instruction in the Kantō region; Kosen Roshi and Soyen Shaku were successively abbots in this period, and Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki was a student under them. Zazen courses are still held in the temple.
Fire has damaged many of the buildings at different times, and the dates given below refer to the building of the structures currently seen. From the entrance, the buildings of the temple rise up a wooded hillside, with the major buildings in a straight line in the Chinese style; the austere buildings and the trees blending in a satisfying overall composition. There are altogether 18 temples on the site. Among the buildings and other monuments are :
- the two-storied main gate, San-mon (三門 - enlightenment gate - 1783), with framed calligraphy by the Emperor Fushimi
- a large modern Butsu-den (仏殿 - main hall - 1964)
- Shari-den (舎利殿 - reliquary hall), built in the sixteenth century in the style of the Chinese Song dynasty, which houses what is claimed to be a tooth of the Buddha
- the thatched Butsunichi-an (仏日庵) which is the burial site of Hōjō Tokimune
- Ōbai-in (黄梅院), a small thatched temple containing a statue of Kannon
- Great Bell (大鐘 - Ōgane) (1301), at 2.5 metres tall the largest of all the many temple bells of Kamakura.
Of these, the Shari-den and Great Bell have been designated as national treasures of Japan.
There is an admission fee (2009 : 300 yen) for visitors to enter the temple complex, and additional similar charges to enter a few of the buildings. Booths selling tourist items are located near the entrance, below the San-mon, and there are refreshment facilities in the garden of the Shari-den and at the platform where the Great Bell is located, from where there are extensive views across the valley to other temple complexes in the Kita-Kamakura neighbourhood, such as Jōchi-ji and Tōkei-ji.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engaku-ji
Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License |
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