Byodo-in,+Uji

=Byodo-in, Uji=

**History** This temple was originally built in 998 in the Heian period as a rural villa of **Fujiwara no Michinaga** (966-1027), one of the most powerful members of the Fujiwara clan. He ruled as prime minister and regent marked the height of his family's long period of political power. The influence of this family was so all-imcompassing that the middle and laet heian periods are often referred to as the Fujiwara period (894-1185). the source of Fujiwara power was their wealth of daughters whom they married to imperial princes. Murasaki Shikibu, author of //The Tale of Genji//, was a lady-in-waiting for one fo Michinaga's daughters who was an empress.

Fujiwara changed this villa to a Buddhist temple in 1052 which was the year on the Buddhist calendar scholars believed marked the beginning of **mappo** (the period of the Latter Day of the Law or the End of the Law). At its height, Byodo-in had thirty-three (33) buildings of which seven were pagodas. The most famous building in the temple is the Phoenix Hall (**Ho‑oh‑Do**/Hoohdo), whose sole purpose is housing the Amida Buddha image. It's the only remaining original building, surrounded by a scenic pond; Additional buildings making up the compound were burnt down during a civil war in 1336. The main building in Byodo‑in, the Phoenix Hall constructed by **Fujiwara no Yorimichi** (992-1074), consists of a central hall, flanked by twin wing corridors on both sides of the central hall, and a tail corridor. The central hall houses an image of Amida Buddha. The temple today is maintained by the Japanese government. Some assistance is provided by two neighboring temples which have remained active religious institutions, but I am not sure that the Byodo-in remains consecrated today.


 * __Mappo:__**
 * The Latter Day of the Law**, is one of the Three Ages of Buddhism. This Age is supposed to begin 2,000 years after Sakyamuni Buddha's passing and lasts for "10,000 years". The first two Ages are the //Age of Right Dharma// (正法 Cn: zhèngfǎ; Jp: shōbō) followed by the //Age of Semblance Dharma// (像法 Cn: xiàngfǎ; Jp: zōbō).During this degenerate age, it is believed that people will be unable to attain enlightenment through the word of Sakyamuni Buddha, and society becomes morally corrupted. In Buddhist thought, even during the Age of Dharma Decline the teachings of the Buddha are still correct, but people are no longer capable of following them. Buddhist temporal cosmology assumes cyclical, and even the buddhism teaching ends someone will be born and teach it. Ksitigarbha is known for his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds, in the era between the death of Gautama (Shakyamuni) Buddha and the rise of Maitreya Buddha.

consists of a main rectangular structure flanked by two L‑shaped wing corridors and a tail corridor, set at the edge of a large artificial pond. Though its official name is Amida‑do, it began to be called Hoo‑do, or Phoenix Hall, in the beginning of the Edo period. This name is considered to derive both from the building's likeness to a phoenix with outstretched wings and a tail, and the pair of phoenixes adorning the roof.It has three wings, creating an image of the mythical bird of China, the phoenix. Twin wing corridors on both sides, plus a “tail” corridor flank the central hall. The roof of the hall displays statues of the Chinese phoenix, called hoo in Japanese. **Toyotomi Hideyoshi** built the dike that now separated the Phoenix Hall from the Uji River. The pond and the buildign form a three-dimensional replica of paintings that depict Amida's Western Paradise. These paintings originated in China, but the theme took on a life of its own in Fujiwara Japan. The pond in the Western Paradise is filled with lotus blossoms upon which sit, if only momentarily, the souls of the dead who have been brought to the **Pure Land** by their professions of faith in Amida. **Pure land** in the Buddhadharma is an English rendering of the celestial realm or pure abode of a buddha or bodhisattva. They have voiced the //nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu// or "Praise to the Name of Amida"). Once brought into the Western Paradise, they achieve Awakening and enter Nirvana. Like many complex religious ideas, the nuances are lost in the popular mind. Literary evidence suggests that in the popular mind, going to the Western Paradise was an end in itself rather than a means to Awakening. It was equivalent to "going to Heaven when you die."
 * __Phoenix Hall:__**

Inside the Phoenix Hall is one of the great sculptural achievements of the Fujiwara period - the **Amida Buddha** by **Jocho** (d. 1057). This delicate work was constructed using the **yosegi** (multi-block) technique. **//Yosegi-zaiku//** (寄木細工 ) is a type of traditional Japanese parquetry which originated in Japan’s culturally rich Edo Period. It has been increasingly well reputed in foreign countries. The mosaic work is made by making best use of natural fine grains and textures of wood. Timbers of different colors are cut into oblong rods of desired sections. The Amida sculpture is made of Japanese cypress and is covered with gold leaf. Jocho, who used a new canon of proportions and a new technique, yosegi, in which multiple pieces of wood are carved out like shells and joined from the inside, executed it. The statue measures about three meters high from its face to its knees, and is seated. Applied to the walls of the hall are small relief carvings of celestials, the host believed to have accompanied Amida when he descended from the Western Paradise to gather the souls of believers at the moment of death and transport them in lotus blossoms to Paradise. Raigo paintings on the wooden doors of the Phoenix Hall, depicting the Descent of the Amida Buddha, are an early example of Yamato‑e, Japanese‑style painting, and contain representations of the scenery around Kyoto. The central hall 52 wooden statues of bodhisattvas placing musical instruments and dancing on clouds. Seated at the western edge of a pond, the golden Amida statue catches the first rays of the rising sun.

Byodo‑in boasts the most beautiful of Japan's few remaining Pure Land Gardens, called a Jodo‑shiki garden with a pond in front of the building. This garden type was popular during the Heian Period. It was unearthed in 1997 as part of an archeological dig. On the grounds is Byodo‑in's temple bell, one of the most famous bells in Japan said to be over 900 years old and to have come from India. The Japanese and Chinese enjoy identifying groups of threes - three famous views, three famous gardens, three famous unifiers, etc. This bell is one among three particulary noted ones - the bel at Mii-dera fro the beauty of its sound, the one in Jungo-ji for the beauty of its calligraphy, and this one for the beauty of its shape. A national treasure, it bears no inscriptions but has reliefs of maidens and lions; it is thought to display Korean influences.
 * __Bell Tower:__**

Orginally, this building was on the very bank of the river and water actually flowed under part of it. This allowed people to fish from its veranda. The building also houses an eleven-headed Kannon image. Next to the Tsuir-dono is a monument to **Minamoto Yorimasa** (1104-1180) who took his own life here after being defeated by the rival Taira clan.
 * __Tsuir-dono (Fishing Hall) or Kannon-do:__**

(1180–1185) was a confict between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late- Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192. The name "Genpei" (pronounced and sometimes romanised as //Gempei//) comes from alternate readings of the Kanji 'Minamoto' (源) and 'Taira' (平). The conflict is also known in Japanese as the //**Jishō-Juei War**// (治承寿永の乱 , //Jishō-Juei no ran// after the two eras between which it took place. It began with Minamoto support for a different candidate to take the throne, in conflict with the Taira's nomination. The ensuing Battle of Uji took place just outside Kyoto, starting a five-year long war, concluding with a decisive Minamoto victory in the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura.
 * __Gempei War:__**

The **first Battle of Uji** is famous and important for having opened the Genpei War. In early 1180, Prince Mochihito, the Minamoto Clan's favored claimant to the Imperial Throne, was chased by Taira forces to the Mii-dera, a temple just outside Kyoto. Due to the interference of a Mii-dera monk with Taira sympathies, the Minamoto army arrived too late to help defend the temple. Minamoto no Yorimasa led Prince Mochihito, along with the Minamoto army and a number of warrior monks from Mii-dera, south towards Nara. They crossed the Uji River, just outside the Byodo-in, and tore up the planks of the bridge behind them to prevent the Taira following them. However, the Taira forces began to ford the river, and caught up with the Minamoto. Yorimasa tried to help the Prince get away, but was struck with an arrow. He committed seppuku, setting a ritual precedent of committing suicide rather than surrendering, which //would be honored up into World War II//. This is the first known historical incident of this form of //seppuku//. The Prince was captured and killed shortly afterwards by the Taira warriors.
 * __Battle of Uji Bridge:__**

Four year later, Minamoto no Yoshinaka tried to wrest power from his cousins Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, seeking to take command of the Clan. To that end, he sacked Kyoto, burning the Hojuji Palace, kidnapping Emperor Go-Shirakawa and having himself named shogun. However, his cousins caught up with him soon afterwards, following him across the Bridge over the Uji, New Year's Day, 1184, in an ironic reversal of the first Battle of the Uji, only four years earlier. Despite the monks' having torn up the planks of the bridge leading to the temple, the Taira managed to break through the defenses, and take the temple. Suffering defeat at Uji, he committed suicide in the Byōdō-in. Minamoto no Yorimasa's ritual suicide by seppuku is the earliest recorded instance of a samurai's suicide in the face of defeat. According to legend, his retainer took his head to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Taira. He then fastened his master's head to a rock and threw it into the Uji river so it could not be found.


 * __Minamoto no Yorimasa:__**

(源頼政 ) (1106 – 1180) was a prominent Japanese poet whose works appeared in various anthologies. He served eight different emperors in his long career, holding posts such as hyōgo no kami (head of the arsenal). He was also a warrior, leading the Minamoto armies at the beginning of the Genpei War. In the clashes between the Minamoto and Taira clans that had gone on for decades, Yorimasa had tried to stay out of politics, and avoided taking sides. He did participate in the Hogen Rebellion in 1156. For a time, he was even friends with Taira no Kiyomori. During the Heiji Rebellion of 1160, he leaned just enough in favor of the Taira that it allowed them to overthrow the Minamoto. However, by the time he officially retired from military service in Kiyomori's army in 1179, Yorimasa had changed his mind about opposing his own clan. He entered the Buddhist priesthood. In May of 1180, he sent out an appeal to other Minamoto leaders, and to temples and monasteries that Kiyomori had offended. The Byodo‑in museum stores and displays most of Byodo‑in national treasures, including 52 wooden Bodhisattvas, the temple bell, the south end Phoenix, and other historically noteworthy items. Japan commemorates its longevity and cultural significance by displaying its image on the 10-yen coin, and the 10,000 yen note features the phoenix image. In December 1994, UNESCO listed the building as a World Hertiage Site as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto". The Phoenix Hall, the great statue of Amida inside it, and several other items at Byodo‑in are national treasures.

Post-Trip Reflections: This site was more beautiful than I expected. The grounds were immaculate and it really seemed like a very holy place. Having to take off your shoes really made an impact on me as to how special it was (this was one of the first sites we saw).

Credits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By%C5%8Dd%C5%8D-in [] Pictures ==