Rinno-ji
- Japanese: 輪王寺 (Rinnou-ji)
Rinnô-ji is a Buddhist temple neighboring and associated with the Shinto shrine Nikkô Tôshôgû. It is one of the top three Tendai sect temples in Japan, alongside Kan'ei-ji in Tokyo and Enryaku-ji in Kyoto.
While the Tôshôgû is built around the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, Rinnô-ji contains within its grounds the Taiyûin Mausoleum of his grandson, the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu. Rinnô-ji is part of the "Shrines and Temples of Nikkô" World Heritage Site, collectively along with Tôshôgû and the nearby Futaarasan Shrine; the three were historically a single shrine-temple complex, but were divided up by the Meiji government in 1871.[1]
Abbots of Rinnô-ji were typically imperial princes. They traditionally enjoyed a one-on-one meeting with the shogun on the 1st day of the 2nd month each year.
Sculptures installed at the temple as objects of worship include one of Amida Buddha and two of the bodhisattva Kannon believed to have been made by the Shichijô bussho sculpture studio in Kyoto c. 1645.[2]
The path to the mausoleum passes through three temple gates, each with a pair of guardian figures. Numerous bronze and stone lanterns donated by daimyô or other elites also line the path. In contrast to the gold and white color scheme of key portions of the Tôshôgû, the Taiyûin mausoleum is decorated in a comparatively subdued gold and black scheme.[3]
References
- ↑ "Shrines and Temples of Nikko." UNESCO World Heritage Sites official webpage. UNESCO, 2012.
- ↑ Timon Screech, Obtaining Images, University of Hawaii Press (2012), 102-103.
- ↑ Explanatory plaques on-site.[1]