H?RY?JI AND T?DAIJI

H?ry?ji (Temple of the Exalted Law), located in Ikaruga Village (Nara) and first founded by Prince Sh?toku (574–622), was rebuilt after a 670 fire under royal patronage. Long associated with Hoss? (Faxiang school) teachings, the temple owes its survival to its celebration of Sh?toku's memory. H?ryuji's west and east precincts contain an extraordinary number of ancient buildings, images, and treasures dating from the seventh, eighth, and later centuries. Several seventh-century images at H?ry?ji are associated by inscription or legend with the prince: gilt-bronze representations of Yakushi (Bhai?ajyaguru) and Shaka (??kyamuni) on the primary altar, a gilded wood image of Kannon (Avalokite?vara) in the Dream Hall, and a seated Miroku (Maitreya) at neighboring Ch?g?ji. A large eleventh-century hagiographical painting of Prince Sh?toku drew visitors to the Painting Hall (Edono), while memorial rites before his portrait were conducted at the Sh?ry?in.

Todaiji (Great Eastern Temple), located in the former capital Heij?-ky? (Nara), was begun in the mideighth century by the sovereign Sh?mu (r. 723–749) as a state-supported centerpiece to a Chinese-style provincial temple system. T?daiji served as headquarters of the Kegon school (Huayan school), but in fact functioned as the central venue for ordination and study of Buddhism more broadly. Sh?mu commissioned for its central icon a colossal gilt-bronze Rushana (Vairocana) dedicated in 752. After Sh?mu's death, his consort K?my? offered their massive collection of precious and imported objects to the temple, much of which survives. Burned twice in civil wars (1180 and 1567), T?daiji has been repeatedly revived. Several precincts and storehouses preserve sculptures from the eighth and thirteenth centuries, as well as temple treasures, documents, and books.

See also:Japan, Buddhist Art in; Monastic Architecture; Sh?toku, Prince (Taishi)

Bibliography

Cunningham, Michael R., ed. Buddhist Treasures from Nara. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.

Guth, Christine M. E. "The Pensive Prince of Ch?g?ji: Maitreya Cult and Image in Seventh-Century Japan." In Maitreya the Future Buddha, ed. Helen Hardacre and Alan Sponberg. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Kurata Bunsaku, ed. H?ry?ji, Temple of the Exalted Law: Early Buddhist Art from Japan. New York: Japan Society, 1981.

Mino, Yutaka, ed. The Great Eastern Temple: Treasures of Japanese Buddhist Art from T?daiji. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1986.

Sugiyama, Jir?. Classic Buddhist Sculpture: The Tempy? Period, tr. Samuel Crowell Morse. New York: Kodansha International and Shibundo, 1982.

Karen L. Brock