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*''Established: [[1595]], [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]''
*''Japanese'': 方広寺 ''(houkouji)''
The Hôkô-ji is a Buddhist temple in [[Kyoto]], originally established in [[1595]] by [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]. It is famous for the Great Buddha (''Kyoto daibutsu'') Hideyoshi had installed there, and for a controversy regarding the inscription on the bell Hideyoshi had installed, which [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] claimed contained a hidden message of disrespect towards him.
The temple was originally built with the tallest Buddha Hall (''butsuden'') of any temple in Japan. At 48m high, roughly equivalent to fifteen stories, it was quite possibly the largest wooden building on earth for a time, larger even than the Buddha Hall at [[Todai-ji|Tôdai-ji]] which arguably holds that distinction today.<ref name=shogun>Timon Screech, ''The Shogun's Painted Culture'', 68, 108-110.</ref> The wooden statue of [[Dainichi]] nyorai contained within, constructed by the [[Shichijo bussho|Shichijô bussho]] ("Seventh Avenue Buddhist [Sculpture] Studio")<ref>Screech, ''Obtaining Images'', 102-103.</ref> was held together with nails and brackets made by melting down weapons collected in Hideyoshi's [[1588]] "[[Sword Hunt]]." Hideyoshi also installed at Hôkô-ji an [[Amida]] statue from [[Zenko-ji|Zenkô-ji]], of particularly unique eminence as it was said to be not merely a representation of Amida, but genuinely alive itself. This statue was (and still is today) considered so sacred that it was transported in a closed box, and has never been shown to the public.
Following Hideyoshi's death in [[1598]], he had himself deified as the great ''[[kami]]'' ''Hôkoku dai myôjin'', and enshrined at [[Toyokuni Shrine]] (aka Hôkoku Shrine), which was erected adjacent to Hôkô-ji. The temple was reduced in some respects by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], but was maintained, and even rebuilt following a fire in the 1660s. However, at that time, the nails and brackets of the wooden Daibutsu were melted down, yielding, supposedly, 40 million ''[[currency|kanmon]]'' worth of metal. The Daibutsu was replaced with a bronze sculpture at that time, and the great Amida was returned to Zenkô-ji.
The temple was spared in a fire which destroyed much of the city in [[1788]], but ten years later, in [[1798]], the Great Buddha Hall was struck by lightning, and was destroyed in the resulting fire, along with the Daibutsu within.<ref name=shogun/> Though extensive efforts were made to save the building, and the statue, with a chain of 10,000 people conveying buckets of water to put out the blaze, it was for naught in the end. On this terrible occasion, it is said that mysterious fireballs were seen in the skies over [[Edo]], and that one even landed in the garden of [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]].<ref name=shogun/> The temple was rebuilt, but the Daibutsu was not.
{{stub}}
==References==
*Timon Screech, ''Obtaining Images'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 94-98.
<references/>
[[Category:Temples]]
[[Category:Sengoku Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
*''Japanese'': 方広寺 ''(houkouji)''
The Hôkô-ji is a Buddhist temple in [[Kyoto]], originally established in [[1595]] by [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]. It is famous for the Great Buddha (''Kyoto daibutsu'') Hideyoshi had installed there, and for a controversy regarding the inscription on the bell Hideyoshi had installed, which [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] claimed contained a hidden message of disrespect towards him.
The temple was originally built with the tallest Buddha Hall (''butsuden'') of any temple in Japan. At 48m high, roughly equivalent to fifteen stories, it was quite possibly the largest wooden building on earth for a time, larger even than the Buddha Hall at [[Todai-ji|Tôdai-ji]] which arguably holds that distinction today.<ref name=shogun>Timon Screech, ''The Shogun's Painted Culture'', 68, 108-110.</ref> The wooden statue of [[Dainichi]] nyorai contained within, constructed by the [[Shichijo bussho|Shichijô bussho]] ("Seventh Avenue Buddhist [Sculpture] Studio")<ref>Screech, ''Obtaining Images'', 102-103.</ref> was held together with nails and brackets made by melting down weapons collected in Hideyoshi's [[1588]] "[[Sword Hunt]]." Hideyoshi also installed at Hôkô-ji an [[Amida]] statue from [[Zenko-ji|Zenkô-ji]], of particularly unique eminence as it was said to be not merely a representation of Amida, but genuinely alive itself. This statue was (and still is today) considered so sacred that it was transported in a closed box, and has never been shown to the public.
Following Hideyoshi's death in [[1598]], he had himself deified as the great ''[[kami]]'' ''Hôkoku dai myôjin'', and enshrined at [[Toyokuni Shrine]] (aka Hôkoku Shrine), which was erected adjacent to Hôkô-ji. The temple was reduced in some respects by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], but was maintained, and even rebuilt following a fire in the 1660s. However, at that time, the nails and brackets of the wooden Daibutsu were melted down, yielding, supposedly, 40 million ''[[currency|kanmon]]'' worth of metal. The Daibutsu was replaced with a bronze sculpture at that time, and the great Amida was returned to Zenkô-ji.
The temple was spared in a fire which destroyed much of the city in [[1788]], but ten years later, in [[1798]], the Great Buddha Hall was struck by lightning, and was destroyed in the resulting fire, along with the Daibutsu within.<ref name=shogun/> Though extensive efforts were made to save the building, and the statue, with a chain of 10,000 people conveying buckets of water to put out the blaze, it was for naught in the end. On this terrible occasion, it is said that mysterious fireballs were seen in the skies over [[Edo]], and that one even landed in the garden of [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]].<ref name=shogun/> The temple was rebuilt, but the Daibutsu was not.
{{stub}}
==References==
*Timon Screech, ''Obtaining Images'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 94-98.
<references/>
[[Category:Temples]]
[[Category:Sengoku Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
