Читать книгу Kyoto a Cultural Guide - John H. Martin - Страница 9

TO TRAVERSE the lanes between the temples and shrines of eastern Kyoto located near Gojo-dori and Shijo-dori is to stroll through the history of the city. The small Hokan-ji with its Yasaka Pagoda is one of the earliest temples in Kyoto, created even before Kyoto became the capital, a temple that retains the oldest extant pagoda in the city. The early middle ages in Kyoto are represented by the Chorakuji, an insignificant and little-visited hillside temple, but one that is connected with the tragic and romanticized story of the Taira empress who alone survived the battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 and who here took the tonsure and spent the rest of her days as a nun praying for her lost child and family.

The nearby Higashi Otani Cemetery with its tomb to the priest Shinran, who suffered from persecution for his faith, is a sacred spot to diose millions who follow this great Buddhist religious reformer of the 1200s in the practice of the Jodo Shinshu faith. The close of the Japanese medieval period is also remembered by a site that again recalls the tempestuous relationship between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, for it contains the Kodai-ji nunnery where Hideyoshi's widow Yodogimi spent her all-too-brief years following his death.

The modern age is not ignored, for the Ryozen Historical Museum is a monument to the heady days of the mid-to late nineteenth century when the Tokugawa shogunate was losing power and the new Meiji era and modern Japan were being born. An aspect of the unhappy consequences of the militaristic spirit of that period is also marked by the gigantic concrete Kannon image which arose after World War II in memory of and expiation for the millions who died in the two decades of Japan's Greater East Asia folly.

Then, in even more recent years, the new Daiun-in, with its unusual pagoda in the shape of a huge Gion cart adding a new element to the skyline at the foot of the Higashiyama hills, further enriches the city with examples of Buddhist murals from the Chinese caves of Dun Huang. There is also a lighter side to this area of Kyoto. Along with its many ochaya (teahouses), in the area along the narrow streets between Higashi-oji-dori and Kitamon-mae-dori one may have the opportunity to savor the non-alcoholic delights of amazake, which was once the beverage of Buddhist nuns. There are also many restaurants in the area about Maruyama Park.

We begin this tour at the small Hokan-ji, best known for its Yasaka Pagoda.

THE YASAKA PAGODA AND HOKAN-JI

The Yasaka Pagoda is most easily reached from the bus stop at Higashi-oji-dori and Kiyomizu-michi, the same bus stop used in Tour 1. Buses 202,203,206, and 207 which run along Higashi-ojidori serve the bus stop. After alighting from the bus, walk three streets north on Higashi-oji-dori and then turn right on to Yasaka-dori. A torii stands at the entrance to Yasaka-dori at Higashi-oji-dori, and that street, after a slight jog to the right and then the left, will lead one to the tall pagoda of the small Hokan-ji. The temple grounds are open between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Entry fee.

The Yasaka Pagoda and its few tiny buildings are all that remain of the Hokan-ji, one of the oldest temples in Kyoto. It is said to have been established by a family named Yasaka-no-Miyatsuko who had probably come to Japan from Korea and who settled in this region in the 500s, some two centuries before Kyoto was created as a city. Their religious life is claimed to have centered around the Hokan-ji which tradition says was created in 588 by Prince Shotoku, the founder of Buddhism in Japan. This claim is no doubt one of those pious but questionable traditions since the prince would only have been sixteen at that date. The temple was to become one of the principal Buddhist temples of Kyoto in the early centuries of the city.

Those who conquered the city were always anxious to display their colors at the Yasaka Pagoda since it was historically regarded as the symbol of Kyoto. Time, however, has taken its toll of the original temple buildings, and the pagoda was replaced in 1192 by Minamoto-no-Yoritomo, founder of the Kamakura shogunate. The temple was later destroyed by fire, and of the rebuilding by Shogun Ashikaga-no-Yoshinori in 1440 only this five-story pagoda still remains, the oldest pagoda in Kyoto. It was restored in 1618 by the governor of Kyoto.

The Hokan-ji precincts are entered on its south side. Today the temple consists of the five-story pagoda of 1440 and a few small buildings to the north of the pagoda. Two of these units are memorial halls with flaming jewels atop their pyramidal roofs. The unit on the west (to the left when facing them) is the Taishido (Memorial Hall) to Prince Shotoku, the supposed founder of the temple. The Taishi-do contains an appealing image of the prince at the age of sixteen praying for his father, the emperor Yomei, who lay on his deathbed. This image is a favorite one which appears in many other temples.

The small building to the right of the Taishi-do is the Yakushido, known for its gilt image of the Buddha Yakushi, the Buddha of healing and medicine, bearing a staff in his left hand. To the right of the Yakushi-do is the small, modern treasure house, while to the east of the pagoda is a Shinto shrine.

The five-story Yasaka Pagoda is 126 feet tall, and the interior walls, ceiling, and columns on the base level are decorated with paintings, among which are images of bodhisattvas. The interior of many pagodas have been decorated in this manner, and this is one of those rare examples that are available for viewing. In the center of the base level, on each side of the main pillar which supports the pagoda, are images of the four Nyorai Buddha: Hojo on the south, Amida on the west, Ashuka on the east, and Shaka on the north. A large phoenix tops the spire of the pagoda, a symbol of the temple's rebirth after its destruction by fire.

To the east of the Yasaka Pagoda are three sites that a century ago ranked among the most important in the city: the Gokoku Shrine, a memorial to those who died in opposition to the Tokugawa shogunate which ended in 1868, and the Ryozen Rekishikan (Ryozen Historical Museum). (Today, they are seldom visited and are mentioned here more as curiosities.)

GOKOKU SHRINE

The Gokoku Shrine, also known as the Shinto Kyoto Shrine, is to the east of the Yasaka Pagoda at the top of Kodai-ji Minami Monzen-dori one street to the north of the street facing the entrance of the Yasaka Pagoda. Kodai-ji Minami Monzen-dori should be taken up the hill which the street ascends. At the top of the hill, on the left as the road turns to the south, is the Gokoku Shrine. The shrine is open during daylight hours without charge.

The Gokoku Shrine is an old shrine meant to serve as the protector of the city, and, as a shrine, it differs little from other Shinto shrines. The buildings are behind a vermilion fence on the left as one mounts the hillside street to the shrine entrance. within the grounds, beyond the torii of the entryway, is the unpainted Heiden (Offertory), and beyond it is the Haiden (Oratory) and then the fenced Honden (Spirit Hall). As such, for the casual visitor it is of historical interest only. A century ago, when Shinto was being turned into a militaristic faith which served the military and the state, it held greater significance for the Japanese public than it now does.

To the south of the Gogoku Shrine, a monument/shrine of major importance was raised in the late nineteenth century, a site now almost forgotten. This monument was dedicated to the heroes of the movement, in the decade prior to 1868, who opposed the Tokugawa shogunate and who helped to bring about the Meiji Restoration and the modernization of Japan. Here are buried a number of the heroes of that era, including Kido Takayoshi (also known as Kido Koin, 1833-77), one of the leaders of Meiji times.

RYOZEN REKISHIKAN

The Ryozen Rekishikan (Ryozen Historical Museum) is the third formerly important site. It is located across the road from the Gokoku Shrine on Kodai-ji Minami Monzen-dori. It is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except on Mondays and the New Year holiday. Entry fee.

The Ryozen Rekishikan is a museum of the history of the period on either side of 1868, the year in which the Tokugawa shogunate passed into history and the modernization of Japan under the name of the Meiji emperor began. The displays consist of photographs, writings, armaments, and other articles which relate the epic period of change in Japanese political and cultural life. Special exhibitions on the Meiji era are also presented. In a sense, this museum replaces the memorial to the heroes of the Restoration, which is mentioned above, since time often effaces the public memory of men and events. As a specialized museum whose labels are in Japanese, few foreign visitors will be interested in or will patronize the museum, but it is mentioned for those interested in the period of drastic change which occurred in Japan from the 1860s on.

The Gokoku Shrine and the Ryozen Rekishikan represent the heady days of the 1870s when the new Meiji government came into power and Japanese nationalism began the flowering that would ultimately lead to disaster and the defeat of Japan in 1945. The Ryozen Kannon Temple, just a short distance from these two important nineteenth-century sites, marks the repentance most Japanese feel for the extremes to which nationalism took the nation.

RYOZEN KANNON

The route to the Ryozen Kannon temple heads back down Kodaiji Minami Monzen-dori to Kita-mon-mae-dori, the first narrow street to the right. A turn on to this new street should bring into sight the towering image of the concrete Ryozen Kannon figure and then the entrance to the temple grounds. The temple is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Entry fee.

In 1955, a 79-foot-tall, seated Kannon image cast in concrete, a memento mori, was constructed by a transportation firm to honor the war dead of the Pacific War (World War II in the Pacific and Asia). It honors not only the Japanese soldiers who died in combat, but also the dead of the Allied forces who opposed Japan. After paying the entry fee, the visitor receives a lighted incense stick; this is to be placed in the large incense pot before the shrine where prayers may be said for the peaceful repose of the dead.

A modest gateway leading into the Ryozen Kannon grounds is guarded by a Nio (Deva King). within the grounds, beyond the entryway, a reflecting pool is situated before a large, roofed incense pot where one places the lit incense stick received at the entry gate and where one can say a prayer for the dead. Behind the incense pot is the main shrine building, topped by the huge Kannon image. On the ground floor is an altar, under the base of the gigantic Kannon figure, and here an Eleven-faced Kannon, the deity of mercy, is the main image. In the northwest section of this level is an image of the recumbent Buddha as he appeared when he passed from this life on achieving nirvana. A five-foot-tall Buddha is in the southwest area. A staircase behind this portion of the building leads into the lower part of the huge Kannon image where various altars are decorated with the figures of the zodiacal year.

Behind this main structure is a memorial hall to the Japanese war dead with a file of the names of all those who died in the years of the Japanese wars of the 1930s and 1940s. To the north of the main temple building is an eight-foot-long memorial footprint of the Buddha, and west of that is a five-foot-tall gold sphere. Beyond, to the north, is a garden. To the south of the main Kannon structure is a memorial hall to the war dead of the Allied forces of the 1940-45 Pacific War. An altar (with English captions) and a file of the names of the Allied dead are maintained here. The altar contains soil from each of the military cemeteries in the Pacific as well. Just west of the Allied memorial, toward the entry gate, is a modern shrine of one thousand Buddhas with an image of a Buddha holding an infant in his arms. To the south of the Allied memorial is an open, domed structure with an outdoor altar where memorial services may be held.

This solemn and impressive contribution of a private citizen's firm to the memory of the war dead is a fitting representation of the sorrow felt by the Japanese for the errors and disasters brought upon so many by the Japanese military rulers of the 1930s and 1940s.

Adjacent to the Ryozen Kannon and to its north is the Kodaiji, the retreat in which Toyotomi Hideyoshi's widow lived when she became a nun after her husband's death in 1598. It represents, in a sense, the conclusion to the story of the hatred of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hideyoshi's successor, for Hideyoshi and his family.

KODAI-JI: TEMPLE AND NUNNERY

When one leaves the Ryozen Kannon Temple, the entrance to the Kodai-ji nunnery is on the south side of the Kodaiji grounds. This entry is adjacent to the open space which often serves as a parking lot for the Ryozen and Kodai-ji temples. If the nunnery is approached from Kita-mon-mae-dori, beyond the entrance to the Ryozen Kannon temple on that street, a path which turns to the right leads along the south side of the Kodai-ji to its entry gate. The Kodai-ji is a Zen temple of the Rinzai branch of Buddhism (Kennin-ji sect) and is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Entry fee.

The Kodai-ji is a nunnery which adds another interesting element to the Toyotomi Hideyoshi-Tokugawa Ieyasu relationship as illustrated in the descriptions of the Hokoji and the Hokoku Shrine of the second tour in this guidebook. The Kodaiji was originally founded in 838, but its renaissance as a Buddhist nunnery began after Hideyoshi's death in 1598. In 1605, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu granted this temple to Hideyoshi's widow, Yodogimi, when she became an ama (nun) to pray for the soul of her husband, and here she lived until shortly before her death which occurred during the siege of Osaka castle in 1615. The temple was designed by two architects under Ieyasu's orders, and by 1604 all of the temple structures had been erected. Sanko Joeki, former abbot of the Kennin-ji, was installed as its founding abbot. To further console Yodogimi, Ieyasu ordered that the Somon gate to Hideyoshi's castle in Fushimi, with its carvings of foxes and dragons by Hidarijingoro, be moved to the Kodai-ji in 1605, and this became the still-extant Omote-mon (Front Gate) to the nunnery. (the gate on the west side of the temple grounds is not open to the public; the front or main gate is on the southern side of the nunnery.) the Keisho-den was also moved from Fushimi to serve as Yodogimi's residence. This building was later turned into the Kohojo (Abbot's Small Quarters), but in 1847 it burned to the ground along with the Daihojo (Abbot's Large Quarters), the Kara-mon (Chinese-style Gateway), and other buildings. The temple is said to have been one of the most attractive temples in the luxurious Momoyama style of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Yodogimi, who had taken the religious name of Kodai-in, spared no expense in the enhancement of the Kodai-ji. At best, Yodogimi spent tragic years here as a nun. The Hokoji and its Buddha were completed in 1612 in her husband's memory, and its great bell was dedicated in 1614. Ieyasu (as detailed under the entry on the Hokoji) interpreted the inscription on the bell as an offense against him. In November of 1614 Ieyasu led his army against Hideyoshi's son Hideyori at his Osaka castle; a truce was arranged wherein the outer defensive walls were leveled and the moat was filled in. The following year, Ieyasu treacherously returned to the attack when he led 200,000 soldiers in a second battle against the castle (which Hideyori had inherited from his father). Hideyori's 100,000 men were overwhelmed, and the Toyotomi family was annihilated. Hideyori's son of seven was beheaded, his head being posted on a bridge over the Kamogawa river in Kyoto as were those of criminals or traitors. Hideyori's five-year-old daughter was sent to a nunnery in Kamakura for the rest of her life. (Alternative tales claim that Ieyasu permitted the Toyotomi family to escape by boat and that they were befriended loyally by one of the daimyo—a not too likely happenstance.)

Yodogimi died at the siege of Osaka castle, reportedly by having one of her servants kill her so she would not fall into Ieyasu's hands. She died despite pleas made by Ono Harunage, who had rescued Ieyasu's granddaughter (left as a hostage with Yodogimi) from the flames. (Yodogimi is reportedly buried in the Daiyu-ji temple in Osaka.) After the siege of the castle and the death of its defenders, thousands of heads were placed on pikes to line the road from Fushimi to Kyoto as a warning to any prospective opponents of Ieyasu.

The Kodai-ji continued to exist as a Buddhist temple after the death of Yodogimi. Sankojoeki, abbot of the Kennin-ji, had been appointed as founding priest at Yodogimi's nunnery, and the Kodai-ji has remained as one of the largest and most important sub-temples of the Kennin-ji since that time. The temple was damaged by a number of fires in 1789, and then, ironically, in 1863, as tension increased between the incumbent Tokugawa shogunate and those who wished to restore the emperor to power, the temple was damaged once more. The supporters of the imperial cause, suspecting that one of their Tokugawa opponents had taken refuge in the Kodai-ji, attacked the temple and set fire to some of the buildings. Thus today only six of the original seventeenth-century structures in the Kodai-ji still exist: the Omote-mon gateway (the So-mon) to the nunnery, the Kaisan-do (Founder's Hall), the Kangetsudai covered bridge and walkway, the Tamaya (Sanctuary), and the Kasa-tei and the Shigure-tei (two small teahouses). A new Hojo (Abbot's Quarters) was erected in 1913.

The Kodai-ji is entered through the Omote-mon gateway on its southern side, and the path leads one to the left to the ticket booth. From there one proceeds ahead and then to the right behind temple buildings toward the Kangetsudai and the Kaisando.

Kangetsudai The Kangetsudai is a roofed corridor or bridge which leads over the stream between the Garyu Pond (Dragon's Pond) and the Engetsu Pond (Crescent Moon Pond) to the Kaisan-do (Founder's Hall). It has a small, four-pillared structure midway across, and in this center section, when the Kangetsudai was located at Hideyoshi's Fushimi castle, Hideyoshi would sit to gaze at the moon. In the northern section of the ponds is an island in the shape of a turtle, while in the southern portion is a group of stones meant to resemble a crane, these two animals being the traditional symbols of longevity. Work on the pond and garden were begun by the famous landscape designer Kobori Enshu in the 1620s, but the design was not perfected for another sixty-five years.

Kaisan-do A path leads alongside the garden to the front walkway to the Kaisan-do which was dedicated to the memory of Sanko Joeki, the founding priest of the Kodai-ji. To create a memorial hall befitting her temple, Yodogimi commissioned the decorating of the pillars, walls, and ceiling of the Kaisan-do by the leading artists from the Kano and Tosa schools of painting. The ceiling of the inner room boasts not only a dragon by Kano Eitoku (1543-90), but also the ceiling from Yodogimi's carriage. The ceiling of the front room contains a portion of the roof of the war junk created for use by Hideyoshi in his battles against Korea and China. The inner shrine contains an image of Sanko Joeki while the statues on either side of the steps are of Kinoshita Iesada and Unryo-in, Yodogimi's elder brother and younger sister. The four panels of the shrine in tins hall are by the noted fifteenth-century artist Kano Motonobu.

Tamaya The Kangetsudai, the roofed corridor with its moon-viewing pavilion, leads to the Kaisan-do from the west and is continued on the eastern side from the Kaisan-do to the Tamaya. The corridor is named the Garyoro (Reclining Dragon Corridor) from the resemblance of its sloping roof to the back of a reclining dragon, the roof tiles having been laid in a manner that resembles the scales on the back of a dragon. (Only a short length at its far end may be entered.)

If the Kaisan-do would appear to be overly decorated, it cannot match the Momoyama-period splendor of the Tamaya. A path leads from the central walkway of the Kaisan-do to the east and to the front gate of the Tamaya, a building enclosed behind white walls. Built to the east of the Kaisan-do in 1606, it is particularly noted for its takamaki-e (raised lacquer work), an early example of what has become known as the art of Kodai-ji-maki-e. Gold lacquer artistry reached a luxurious peak in the designs in this Spirit Hall, since the walls, furniture, cabinets, the altar, and the altar dishes are all decorated in the Kodai-ji-maki-e technique.

The altar is thus a masterpiece of lacquer craft. Its central image of worship is that of Kannon. Instead of having the usual bodhisattva images on either side of the main image, the Kannon in this memorial hall is flanked by two miniature shrines. The shrine on the left holds a wooden image of the seated Hideyoshi, the shrine case having designs in gold taken from Yodogimi's carriage. Hideyoshi's hat is the one sent to him by the emperor of China. On the opposite side of the altar on the right is a wooden image of Yodogimi as a nun. The building is further embellished with the classical painting of the Thirty-six Poets" by Tosa Mitsunobu (1434-1525) and other works by artists of the Kano school.

Shigure-tei and Kasa-tei East of the main buildings and further up the hillside are two small, thatch-roofed teahouses, also from the Fushimi castle, which are connected by a thatch-roofed walkway. They bear the names of Shigure-tei (Shower of Rain) and Kasa-tei (Umbrella). The Shigure-tei was designed by Toyobo Sochin, a disciple of Sen-no-Rikyu, the great tea master and garden designer of the late 1500s. At the time of Hideyoshi's 1587 Tea Party at the Kitano Shrine, to which he invited everyone to be present, even "those from China," all the important tea masters designed teahouses which were exhibited at the tea party. Toyobo's teahouse eventually found a permanent home at the Kodai-ji. The Kasa-tei is so-named since, from the inside of the teahouse, the poles or struts supporting the thatched roof radiate from a central point at the conical peak of the roof—thereby resembling the struts of an opened umbrella from the underside. The real name of the teahouse is more romantic: Ankan-kutsu, "Place of Idleness."

Iho-an Nordiwest of the Kangetsu-dai are two small buildings, one of which is the Iho-an (the Cottage of Lingering Fragrances). According to one account, it was the favorite tea ceremony house of a wealthy merchant and the courtesan Yoshinotayu, a famed dancer and beauty who later married, the merchant. Another account claims this to be an incense ceremony building, supposedly of Hideyoshi's time. Nearby is the Entoku-in, a sub-temple of the Kodai-ji which was once the mansion of Kinoshita Toshifusa, a nephew of Yodogimi. The 1913-rebuilt Hojo (Abbot's Quarters) has a landscape painting on its fusuma (sliding panel) which is thought to be by Tohaku Hasegawa, while the garden of the Hojo lies to its north, a Momoyama dry garden with magnificent rocks from Fushimi castle.

Among the treasures of the temple on display between November 1-10 each year are gold screens by Kano Motonobu (1476-1559), Kano Koi, and Hasegawa Tohaku (1539-1610). Certain relics of Hideyoshi and Yodogimi remain as well, notably his writing box, her black lacquer "clothes horse," and a set of small dining trays and covered bowls, all originally from the Fushimi castle of Hideyoshi.

BUNNOSUKE-JAYA