Japanese pagoda
Pagodas in Japan are called tō (
Of the Japanese pagoda's many forms, some are built in wood and are collectively known as mokutō (
A pagoda's size is measured in ken, where a ken is the interval between two pillars of a traditional-style building. A tahōtō for example can be either 5x5 ken or 3x3 ken.[4] The word is usually translated in English as "bay" and is better understood as an indication of proportions than as a unit of measurement.
History
[edit]The stupa was originally a simple mound containing the Buddha's ashes which in time became more elaborate, while its finial grew proportionally larger.[2] After reaching China, the stupa met the Chinese watchtower and evolved into the pagoda, a tower with an odd number of storeys.[note 1] Its use then spread to Korea and, from there, to Japan. Following its arrival in Japan together with Buddhism in the 6th century, the pagoda became one of the focal points of the early Japanese garan.[note 2] In Japan it evolved in shape, size and function, finally losing its original role as a reliquary.[5] It also became extremely common, while on the Asian continent it is rare.[6]
With the birth of new sects in later centuries, the pagoda lost importance and was consequently relegated to the margins of the garan. Temples of the Jōdo sects rarely have a pagoda.[2] During the Kamakura period the Zen sect arrived in Japan and their temples do not normally include a pagoda.
Pagodas originally were reliquaries and did not contain sacred images, but in Japan many, for example Hōryū-ji's five-storied pagoda, enshrine statues of various deities.[5] To allow the opening of a room at the ground floor and therefore create some usable space, the pagoda's central shaft, which originally reached the ground, was shortened to the upper stories, where it rested on supporting beams.[5] In that room are enshrined statues of the temple's main objects of worship. Inside Shingon pagodas there can be paintings of deities called Shingon Hasso (
Design and structure evolution
[edit]The edge of a pagoda's eaves forms a straight line, with each following edge being shorter than the other. The more difference in length (a parameter called teigen (
From the structural point of view, old pagodas had a stone base (
Early pagodas had a central pillar that penetrated deep into the ground. With the evolution of architectural techniques, it was first put to rest on a base stone at ground level, then it was shortened and put to rest on beams at the second storey to allow the opening of a room.[2][5]
Their role within the temple declined gradually while they were being functionally replaced by main halls (kondō). Originally the centerpiece of the Shingon and Tendai garan, they were moved later to its edges and finally abandoned, in particular by the Zen sects, the last to appear in Japan.
Loss of importance of the pagoda within the garan
[edit]Because of the relics they contained, wooden pagodas used to be the centerpiece of the garan, the seven edifices considered indispensable for a temple.[7] They gradually lost importance and were replaced by the kondō (golden hall), because of the magic powers believed to lie within the images the building housed. This loss of status was so complete that Zen schools, which arrived late in Japan from China, normally do not have any pagoda in their garan. The layout of four early temples clearly illustrates this trend: they are in chronological order Asuka-dera, Shitennō-ji, Hōryū-ji, and Yakushi-ji.[7] In the first, the pagoda was at the very center of the garan surrounded by three small kondō (see the reconstruction of the temple's original layout). In the second, a single kondō is at the center of the temple and the pagoda lies in front of it. At Hōryū-ji, they are one next to the other. Yakushi-ji has a single, large kondō at the center with two pagodas on the sides. The same evolution can be observed in Buddhist temples in China.
Stone pagodas
[edit]Stone pagodas (sekitō) are usually made of materials like apatite or granite, are much smaller than wooden ones and are finely carved.[5] Often they bear sanskrit inscriptions, Buddhist figurines and Japanese lunar calendar dates nengō. Like wooden ones, they are mostly classifiable on the basis of the number of stories as tasōtō or hōtō, but there are however some styles hardly ever seen in wood, namely the gorintō, the muhōtō, the hōkyōintō and the kasatōba.[8]
Tasōtō or tajūtō
[edit]With a few very rare exceptions, tasōtō (also called tajūtō,
- Media related to Tasōtō at Wikimedia Commons
Hōtō
[edit]A hōtō (
There used to exist full-size hōtō, but almost only miniature ones survive, normally made of stone and/or metal.[10]
- Media related to Hōtō at Wikimedia Commons
Gorintō
[edit]
The gorintō (
In all its variations, the gorintō is made of five blocks (although that number can sometimes be difficult to detect), each having one of the five shapes which symbolize of the Five Elements believed to be the basic building blocks of reality: earth (cube), water (sphere), fire (pyramid), air (crescent), and ether, energy, or void (lotus).[11] The last two rings (air and ether) are visually and conceptually united into a single subgroup.
- Media related to gorintō at Wikimedia Commons
Hōkyōintō
[edit]The hōkyōintō (
The hōkyōintō tradition in Japan is believed to have begun during the Asuka period (550–710 CE).[12] They used to be made of wood and started to be made in stone only during the Kamakura period.[12] It is also during this period that they started to be used as tombstones and cenotaphs.[12] The hōkyōintō started to be made in its present form during the Kamakura period.[1] Like a gorintō, it is divided in five main sections representing the five elements of Japanese cosmology.[5] The sūtra it sometimes hides contain all the pious deeds of a Tathagata Buddha, and the faithful believe that, by praying in front of the hōkyōintō, their sins will be canceled, during their lives they will be protected from disasters and after death they will go to heaven.[12]
- Media related to Hōkyōintō at Wikimedia Commons
Muhōtō or rantō
[edit]The muhōtō (
- Media related to Muhōtō at Wikimedia Commons
Kasatōba
[edit]A kasatōba (
- Media related to Kasatōba at Wikimedia Commons
Sōrintō
[edit]The sōrintō (
Wooden pagodas
[edit]Tasōtō
[edit]Wooden tasōtō are pagodas with an odd number of stories. Some may appear to have an even number because of the presence between stories of purely decorative enclosed pent roofs called mokoshi[note 3] A famous example is Yakushi-ji's eastern pagoda (see photo to the left), which seems to have six stories but has in fact only three. Another is the tahōtō (see below), which has a single storey, plus a mokoshi under its roof, and seems therefore to have two stories.[note 4] There existed specimen with seven or nine stories, but all extant ones have either three (and are therefore called sanjū-no-tō (
- Media related to tasōtō at Wikimedia Commons
Hōtō
[edit]A wooden hōtō is a rare type of pagoda consisting of four parts: a low foundation stone, a cylindrical body with a rounded top, a pyramidal roof and a finial.[10] Unlike the similar tahōtō (see section below) it has no square enclosed pent roof (mokoshi) around its cylindrical core.[5] Like the tahōtō it takes its name from Buddhist deity Tahō Nyorai. The hōtō was born during the early Heian period, when the Tendai and Shingon Buddhist sects first arrived in Japan.
There used to be many full-size hōtō, but almost only miniature ones survive, normally made of stone and/or metal. A good example of full-size hōtō can be seen at Ikegami Honmon-ji in Nishi-magome, Tokyo. The pagoda is 17.4 meter tall and 5.7 meter wide.[10]
- Media related to Hōtō at Wikimedia Commons
Tahōtō
[edit]The tahōtō is a type of wooden pagoda unique for having an even number of stories (two), the first square with a rounded core, the second circular. This style of tō was created surrounding the cylindrical base of a hōtō (see above) with a square, roofed corridor called mokoshi.[note 5][5] The core of the pagoda has just one storey with its ceiling below the circular second storey, which is inaccessible. Like the tasōtō and the rōmon, in spite of its appearance it therefore offers usable space only at the ground floor.[5]
Because its kind does not exist either in Korea or in China, it is believed to have been invented in Japan during the Heian period (794–1185). The tahōtō was important enough to be considered one of the seven indispensable buildings (the so-called shichidō garan) of a Shingon temple.[15] Kūkai himself is responsible for the construction of the tahōto at Mount Kōya's Kongōbu-ji.
Daitō
[edit]Usually the base of a tahōtō is 3-ken across with four main, supporting pillars called shitenbashira (
Larger, 5x5 ken tahōtō however exist and are called daitō (
Sotōba
[edit]Often offertory strips of wood with five subdivisions and covered with elaborate inscriptions called sotōba (
- Media related to Sotōba at Wikimedia Commons
Gallery of pagodas in Japan
[edit]-
A gorintō
-
A hōkyōintō
-
A hōtō
-
A stone tasōtō
-
Two kasatōba at Hannya-ji, Nara
-
Ichijō-ji's sanjū-no-tō (three storied pagoda). It was built in 1171.
-
Murō-ji's gojū-no-tō (five storied pagoda). It was built in 800.
-
A pagoda at a Shinto shrine, Itsukushima Shrine
-
A sotōba. Clearly visible is the division in five sections
-
A sorintō
See also
[edit]- Shinbashira, the suspended wooden column inside
Notes
[edit]- ^ Odd numbers are strongly favoured by Chinese numerology and Buddhism. They are supposed to represent yang, that is, the male and positive principle, and are therefore considered lucky.
- ^ Temple compound, ideally composed of seven buildings.
- ^ Besides being decorative in themselves,they are also used also to hide structural components which would otherwise mar the pagoda's feel.
- ^ On the subject, see also the articles Hisashi, Mokoshi and Moya.
- ^ For reasons of space, however, the wall separating the mokoshi from the core of the pagoda is present only in large tahōtō called daitō (see the next section).
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Iwanami Kōjien Japanese dictionary
- ^ a b c d Jaanus, Tou
- ^ Hamashima, Masashi (1999). Jisha Kenchiku no Kanshō Kiso Chishiki (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shibundō. p. 88.
- ^ Fujita Masaya, Koga Shūsaku, ed. (April 10, 1990). Nihon Kenchiku-shi (in Japanese) (September 30, 2008 ed.). Shōwa-dō. p. 79. ISBN 4-8122-9805-9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Fujita & Koga 2008, pp. 79–81
- ^ Scheid, Japanische Pagoden
- ^ a b *Tamura, Yoshiro (2000). Japanese Buddhism - A Cultural History (First ed.). Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Company. pp. 40–41 pages. ISBN 4-333-01684-3.
- ^ a b JAANUS, Sekitou
- ^ JAANUS, Tasoutou
- ^ a b c d JAANUS, Houtou
- ^ a b JAANUS - Gorintou
- ^ a b c d Yatsushiro Municipal Museum
- ^ JAANUS - Muhoutou
- ^ JAANUS - Kasatouba
- ^ a b JAANUS, Daitou
Bibliography
[edit]- Iwanami Kōjien (
広辞苑 ) Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version - "JAANUS". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- Fujita Masaya, Koga Shūsaku, ed. (April 10, 1990). Nihon Kenchiku-shi (in Japanese) (September 30, 2008 ed.). Shōwa-dō. ISBN 4-8122-9805-9.
- Scheid, Bernhard. "Japanische Pagoden" (in German). University of Vienna. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- Shinkō no Katachi - Hōkyōintō, Yatsushiro Municipal Museum, accessed on September 18, 2008 (in Japanese)