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法隆寺 西院伽藍 /

Horyu-ji Temple

A temple having a group of the world's oldest wooden buildings and known for its connection with Prince Shotoku

Horyu-ji Temple, located in Ikaruga, Ikoma County, Nara Prefecture, is the head temple of the Shotoku Sect of Buddhism. It has also been called Ikaruga-dera Temple and Horyu Gakumon Ji (temple for learning so that the law may flourish). It is one of the seven great temples of the southern capital (Nara). The entire temple is called a monastery (garan), and this is divided into a western precinct (Saiin Garan) and an eastern precinct (Toin Garan).


The temple began when Prince Shotoku and Empress Suiko, acting on Emperor Yomei's dying wish to build a temple and install a Buddha, installed a statue of Yakushi Nyorai (Bhaishajyaguru, the Buddha of Medicine) in the Kondo (sanctuary hall) in 607. There are, however, several still unconfirmed theories about when the temple initially opened.


In 622 Prince Shotoku died, and in the following year, the prince's family installed in the same hall statues of Shakyamuni and two attendants. These statues were made by the sculptor Tori to secure his happiness in the land of the dead. The statue of Yakushi and the statues of Shakyamuni and two attendants are still installed in the Kondo in the western precinct to this day.


According to the Nihon shoki (The Chronicles of Japan), Horyu-ji Temple was completely burned down on the 30th of the fourth month of 670. From about 1887 a controversy occurred about whether to rebuild the western precinct. In 1939 the Excavation Survey of the Wakakusa Garan Site found that Horyu-ji Temple was founded on the Wakakusa Garan Site. The current consensus of opinion is that this site should be rebuilt.


In the former layout of the western precinct, which contains a group of the world's oldest wooden buildings, the Kondo and pagoda were arranged along a north-south axis. In the reconstruction, this layout was rectified so that these buildings were arranged along an east-west axis, thus making the layout conform to the precinct layout in the original Horyu-ji Temple style.


According to the Horyuji garan engi narabi ni ruki shizai cho (Horyu-ji Temple Precinct History and Property Record, 747), the clay figure in the pagoda and the statues of the two Deva kings in the central gate were made in 711. The western precinct was probably rebuilt before that year. The eastern precinct, which lies nearby and east of the western precinct, is the group of buildings centered around the Hall of Dreams. This was built around 739 by the monk Gyoshin in the hope that Prince Shotoku would attain enlightenment. Called Joguo-in (Prince Shotoku Hall), it lies on the site of the ruins of Ikaruga Palace which Prince Shotoku built in 601.


In the Kondo of the western precinct, the outer chamber has a Pure Land painting of various Buddhas on its large earthen wall, and the outer and inner chambers has paintings of bodhisattvas, flying celestial beings, etc., on their small earthen walls, important paintings that demonstrate cultural influence from India and the western regions of China. However, in 1949 these paintings were largely destroyed by fire. The next year, this fire became the impetus for enacting the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties.


In addition to the aforementioned statue of Yakushi Nyorai and statues of Shakyamuni and two attendants, Horyu-ji Temple has many buildings, Buddhist statues, and works of art dating from the Asuka period (592-710). Among its many treasures are a Paekche statue of Kannon, a statue of the dream-altering Kannon, and carved statues of the world-savior Kannon in the Hall of Dreams. There is also an iridescent miniature shrine and the miniature Buddha statue and shrine said to have belonged to Lady Tachibana. These works have all been designated as national treasures.


In addition, of the 1 million miniature pagodas that Empress Shotoku ordered made, over 40,000 remain preserved by the Horyu-ji Temple. About 100 especially well preserved miniature pagodas and the printed Dharani Sutras that they contain (the world's oldest printed materials) have been designated as important cultural properties. About 200 of the cultural properties of the Horyu-ji Temple have been designated national treasures or important cultural properties, and some of these cultural properties have been entrusted to Tokyo National Museum for display in its Gallery of Horyu-ji Treasures. In 1993 the "Buddhist monuments in the Horyu-ji area" were registered as World Cultural Heritage. 

Related People, Things and Events

Books

Related Works

National Treasures at Horyu-ji Temple

Main Buddha statues and craft works at Horyu-ji Temple

  1. 止利飛鳥時代の作品。鞍作止利(くらつくりのとり)の作で、釈迦三尊像の名で知られる。
  2. 飛鳥時代の作品。光背裏面の銘文に法隆寺創建の由来が刻まれている。
  3. 康勝鎌倉時代の作品。運慶の四男である康勝の作で、阿弥陀三尊像の名で知られる。
  4. 飛鳥時代の作品。大宝蔵院に安置。江戸時代は虚空蔵菩薩とされていたが、明治時代になって化仏のある透かし彫りの宝冠が発見され、百済観音と呼ばれるようになった。
  5. 白鳳時代の作品。大宝蔵院に安置。
  6. 飛鳥時代の作品。大宝蔵院に安置。主尊の安置と荘厳が一体化した信仰の結晶である。図案的構成や、細部の技法などに中国六朝時代の遺品に通じる部分がある。
  7. 法隆寺に伝来した飛鳥時代~奈良・唐の裂で、東京国立博物館にある法隆寺献納宝物と一群のものである。飛鳥時代の優れた染織技術を示す貴重な資料で、織文、色調も見事であり、保存状態も良い。
  8. 平安・鎌倉時代の作品。
  9. 明治11年(1878)法隆寺から皇室に献納された宝物類(「法隆寺献納御物」の名で親しまれ、奈良の正倉院宝物と並び称されている)の中に含まれているものである。柄のついた香炉で、柄裏に「慧慈」と朱書され、縁裏に「上宮」の刻字があるが、上宮は聖徳太子のことであり、また慧慈は太子の師である。おそらく柄香炉として最古の遺品であろう。

Videos

Past Exhibitions

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Institutions Holding Related Materials

  • 聖徳宗総本山・法隆寺のHP。法隆寺の伽藍およびその内部に収められている仏像・工芸品などが、鮮やかな画像とともに詳細に紹介されている。

  • Nara National Museum collects, preserves, displays, researches and provides educational programs about cultural properties with a focus on Buddhist art.

  • As Japan’s representative museum, Tokyo National Museum collects, preserves, displays, and researches the cultural properties of Asia with a focus on Japan, and also provides educational programs.

  • 画像は東京国立博物館の敷地内にある現在の法隆寺宝物館。

  • 東京国立博物館の「1089ブログ」より。画像は建て替えられる以前の旧法隆寺宝物館。

  • 奈良国立博物館が運営するウェブサイト。法隆寺金堂壁画の写真ガラス原板およびデジタル画像を見ることができる。昭和24年(1949)1月26日、不慮の火災により金堂壁画が焼損したため、金堂壁画の姿を今に伝える貴重な資料で、金堂内における壁画の配置をもリアルに紹介している。

  • 「紡ぐプロジェクト」の一環として2021年に奈良国立博物館と東京国立博物館で開催された特別展の公式サイト。

References

  1. 石田茂作 著,学生社
  2. 梅原猛 著,新潮社
  3. 日本歴史学会 編,吉川弘文館梅原猛説批判の論文、坂本太郎「法隆寺怨霊寺説について」が載っている。
  4. 上原和 著,朝日新聞社
  5. 直木孝次郎 著,吉川弘文館
  6. 高田良信 著,柳原出版
  7. サンプルページ「法隆寺」の項
  8. 「法隆寺」の項
  9. 歴史学研究会 編,岩波書店
  10. サンプルページ「飛鳥時代」の項