Nagasaki-4 ; Obaku Buddhism and their temples in Nagasaki

1.Kofuku-ji Temple of Nagasaki

Kofuku-ji Temple of Nagasaki is the oldest Obaku-sect Buddhist Temple in Japan. It was built by a Chinese Buddhist priest Shin-en  (1579-1648) in 1624.

The second chief priest Mokushi-nyojo(1597-1657) was also a Chinese. He was good at architecture, so he instructed to build  Megane-bashi Bridge.

This is Megane-bashi Bridge. Megane means spectacles in Japanese.

Mokushi-nyojo's statue beside the Nakajima River
2. Sofuku-ji Temple

Shortly after the construction of Kofuku-ji Temple, Chinese merchants living in Nagasaki asked the Nagasaki feudal lord for permission to build a temple with their Chinese hometown's temple style. It is recorded that Sofuku-ji temple was built in 1629 by the Chinese merchants who came from Fujian Province. 

This gate named Daiichi-homon is designated as a National Treasure.

About Daiichi-homon.

The main hall called Daiyu-hoden was first prefabricated in China and then transported by a Chinese ship and constructed here in 1646. As the oldest existing structure to retain the Obaku-style of the Ming Dynasty, this hall is highly evaluated and is designated as a National Treasure.

Buddhist statues in the main hall

About the Beddhist statues in the main hall

Maso Gate. Maso was a Chinese woman who actually existed in China about 1,000 years ago. Because of her psychic power she was apotheosized and regarded as a Goddess to save the country and the people.

The outer gate for Maso Gate

This cauldron was made by the second chief priest in 1682 to boil porriadge for the people who were sufferring from starvation.

This bell was forged in 1647 by a famous blacksmith Ayama Kunihisa.

Guan Yu(in Chinese) or Kan-U(in Japanese) was a general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He was also apotheosized and regarded as a God for merchants.

A statue of Kannon

A statue of Idaten

3. Ingen, the founder of Obaku Buddhism

The Obaku Buddhism is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism with Soto and Rinzai.It was founded by Ingen Ryuki(=Yinquab Longqi,1592-1673) in 1661 after he came to Japan.Ingen arrived in Nagasaki in 1654 at the request of the then chief priest of Kofuku-ji Temple to fill the vacancy of the chief priest's seat of Sofuku-ji Temple in Nagasaki.In 1660 Ingen was allowed to found a temple in Uji, Kyoto by the fourth Shogun Ietsuna Tokugawa. The next year a new temple was completed and Ingen named it Obaku-zan Manpuku-ji Temple which was the same name as the temple in his hometown in China.He didn't use the sect's name Obaku at the time of the foundation but rather he named it as the orthodox Rinzai-sect. When Ingen recognized the difference between the Japanese Rinzai Buddhism and that of China, he began to use the sect's name Obaku Buddhism.

RE: Obaku-sect's temple in Tokyo- Kaifuku-ji Temple

Gohyaku Rakan-ji Temple