Kai Kokubun-ji

Kai Kokubun-ji (甲斐国分寺) is a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple located in the city of Fuefuki, Yamanashi, Japan. It is the descendant of one of the provincial temples established by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794) for the purpose of promoting Buddhism as the national religion of Japan and standardising control of the Yamato rule to the provinces.[1] The ruins of the Nara period temple are adjacent to the modern temple and were designated as a National Historic Site by the Japanese government in 1922.[2]

Kai Kokubun-ji
甲斐国分寺
Site of the Pagoda of the Kai Kokubun-ji
Religion
AffiliationBuddhist
DeityYakushi Nyorai
RiteRinzai Zen
Location
LocationFuefuki, Yamanashi
CountryJapan
Shown within Yamanashi Prefecture
Kai Kokubun-ji (Japan)
Geographic coordinates35°38′19″N 138°41′01″E
Architecture
FounderEmperor Shōmu
Completed843 AD
Website
Official website

History

The original temple site is located approximately 15 minutes by car from Isawa-Onsen Station. The surrounding area contains the ruins of the provincial capital and the Ichinomiya Asama Shrine, the ichinomiya of Kai Province. The original temple is mentioned in historical records only to 938 AD, although it is believed to have lasted into the Kamakura period, and was destroyed by fire in 1255. It was subsequently rebuilt by Takeda Shingen in the Sengoku period as a temple of the Myōshin-ji branch of the Ringai Zen school 300 meters southwest of the original site. The original temple covered a rectangular area measuring 250 meters east-west by 300 meters north-south. The site retains many of the original foundation stones, indicating that it was of the standardized "kokubunji layout" consisting of a South Gate, Main Hall, and seven-story pagoda in a cloister, with a Lecture Hall and supporting structures to the rears ll of which was surrounded by an earthen rampart and moat. Numerous Tenpyō period roof tiles were recovered from the site, which were made at the Kawada kiln located on the opposite bank of the Fuefuki River.

Kai Kokubun-niji

The site of the Nara period Provincial Nunnery are also located in this area, approximately 490 meters from the site of the Provincial Temple. In the surroundings are numerous late Kofun period burial tumuli from the 6th and 7th centuries. Little is known of its history, although the ruins were formerly identified as the site of the residence of Abe no Seimei, with the Kai Kokubun-niji designation given to another site of temple ruins nearby. The site was designated as a National Historic Site by the Japanese government in 1949.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Kokubunji". Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. Archived from the original on 2007-08-25. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  2. "甲斐国分寺跡" (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs.
  3. "甲斐国分尼寺跡" (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs.
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