Byakugō-ji

Byakugō-ji
白毫寺
Temple road (sandō)
Religion
AffiliationShingon Risshū
DeityAmida Nyorai (Amitābha)
Location
Location392 Byakugōji-chō, Nara, Nara Prefecture
CountryJapan
Geographic coordinates34°40′15.65″N 135°51′4.35″E / 34.6710139°N 135.8512083°E / 34.6710139; 135.8512083
Architecture
FounderGonsō Gonzō (acc. legend)
Completed715 (acc. legend)

Byakugō-ji (白毫寺) is a Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan. A number of wooden statues of the Heian and Kamakura periods have been designated Important Cultural Properties and the temple's five-coloured camellias are a Prefectural Natural Monument.[1][2]

Name

The byakugō or urna is the curl of white hair between the eyebrows that is one of the thirty-two physical characteristics of the Buddha.[3][4]

Buildings

The five by five bay Hondō, with tiled hipped roof, dates from the early Edo period (first half of the seventeenth century) and has been designated a Municipal Cultural Property.[5] A tahōtō was still standing in the Meiji period.[6]

Treasures

Byakugō-ji's seven Important Cultural Properties of Japan are, from the Heian period, an Amida Nyorai, and a bodhisattva traditionally identified as Monju Bosatsu and once enshrined in the temple's tahōtō, and from the Kamakura period, Enma-ō, attendants Shiroku (司録) and Shimyō (司命), Taizan-ō (太山王), Jizō Bosatsu, and Kōshō Bosatsu (興正菩薩) (Eison (叡尊).[1] The Taizan-ō was carved by Kōen (康円) in 1259 and has an inscription documenting repairs in 1498.[7][8]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Byakugoji.
  1. ^ a b 国指定文化財一覧 [List of National Cultural Properties] (in Japanese). Nara Prefecture. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  2. ^ "奈良県指定文化財一覧" [List of Prefectural Cultural Properties of Nara Prefecture] (PDF) (in Japanese). Nara Prefecture. 1 April 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  3. ^ Seckel, Dietrich (1985). "Buddhist Temple Names in Japan". Monumenta Nipponica. 40 (4). Sophia University: 378. JSTOR 2384822.
  4. ^ "byakugou". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  5. ^ 白毫寺本堂 [Byakugōji Hondō] (in Japanese). Nara City. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  6. ^ 白毫寺多宝塔 [Byakugōji Tahōtō] (in Japanese). Tokyo National Museum. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  7. ^ 木造太山王坐像〈康円作／〉 [Seated Wooden Statue of Taizan-ō (by Kōen)] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  8. ^ 太山王坐像（百毫寺） [Seated Statue of Taizan-ō (Byakugōji)] (in Japanese). Tobunken. Retrieved 29 November 2015.