Ishiyama-dera


[file:NDL-DC 1313523-Utagawa Kunisada and Hiroshige-観音霊験記 西国巡礼十三番江州石山寺 良弁僧正-crd.jpg|right|thumb|from the picture album "Kannon Reigen ki"]
Ishiyama-dera is a Buddhist temple located in the Ishiyamadera neighborhood of the city of Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. It belongs to the Shingon-shu Tōji-ha sect of Japanese Buddhism and its honzon is a hibutsu image of Nyōirin Kannon. The temple's full name is Ishiko-san Ishiyama-dera.The temple is the 13th stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage route.
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History

Prior to the founding of Ishiyama-dera, this area was a quarry in the 660s during the reign of Emperor Tenji. Furthermore, after the Jinshin War in 672, Prince Ōtomo was buried on the east side of the current site of the pagoda. According to the "Ishiyama-dera Engi Emaki", at the request of Emperor Shōmu, Rōben enshrined a Nyōirin Kannon statue, which was Prince Shōtoku's personal Buddha, here in 747. For the construction of the Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji, Emperor Shōmu needed a large amount of gold to gild the statue's surface. He ordered Rōben to pray to Mount Kinpu in Yoshino for gold. As its name suggests, Mount Kinpu was believed to be a "mountain of gold." One day, Rōben had a dream in which Zaō Gongen of Yoshino appeared to him and told him, "The gold of Mount Kinpu will be used to cover the earth in gold when Miroku Bosatsu appears in this world . South of the lake in Shiga County, Ōmi Province, is the land where Kannon Bodhisattva appears. Go there and pray." Following his dream, Rōben visited Ishiyama. Guided by an old man who was an incarnation of Hira Myōjin, he placed the six-inch gilt bronze statue of Nyōirin Kannon, Prince Shōtoku's personal Buddha, on a huge rock and built a hut. Two years later, gold was discovered in Mutsu Province, and the era name was changed to Tenpyō-shōhō. Although the miraculous power of Rōben's rituals was thus proven, for some reason the Nyōirin Kannon statue became stuck on the rock. Consequently, a hall was constructed to cover the statue, marking the beginning of the temple. According to documents from the Shōsōin Repository, this Ishiyama site was originally a storage area for timber harvested from various locations, including Kōka and Takashima counties in Ōmi Province, in order to build Tōdai-ji. This legend also appears in other sources include the Genkō Shakusho and the later Shirahige Daimyōjin Engi Emaki from 1705.
According to the Shōsōin documents, beginning in 761, the Ishiyama-dera expanded, with staff, including Buddhist sculptors, dispatched from Tōdai-ji and construction of the temple was carried out as a national project and the Hora Palace of Emperor Junnin and Empress Kōken, was located nearby. A new principal image, a clay statue of Nyōirin Kannon was completed between 761 and 762, and the original image was placed inside. The temple's history through the Heian period is unclear, but the temple changed from the Kegon sect to Shingon and became more closely affiliated with Daigo-ji rather than Tōdai-ji. Jun'yu Naigu, the third abbot and grandson of Sugawara no Michizane had a physical disability prevented him from sitting in the proper sitting position, so he devoted himself to his studies and left behind a voluminous body of writing. Many of his handwritten manuscripts remain at the temple, and are collectively designated as a National Treasure (NT). Around this time, pilgrimages to Ishiyama became popular among court ladies, and are described in the works "Kagerō Nikki" and "Sarashina Nikki." Allegedly, Murasaki Shikibu began writing The Tale of Genji at Ishiyama-dera during a full moon night in August 1004. In commemoration, the temple maintains a Genji room featuring a life-size figure of Lady Murasaki and displays a statue in her honor.
On 2 January 1078, the Main Hall was partially burned down by lightning, damaging the clay statue of Nyōirin Kannon. In 1096, the present main hall was rebuilt, and a new seated Nyōirin Kannon statue was enshrined. The East Gate, Tahōtō Pagoda, and Shōnan-in Bishamon-dō Hall are weren built in the early Kamakura period with donations from Minamoto no Yoritomo. In February 1573, during the Sengoku period, the temple sided with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the 15th shōgun of the Muromachi shogunate, and rebelled against Oda Nobunaga. Several buildings at Ishiyama-dera were damaged during the subsequent battle and Nobunaga confiscated much of the temple's estates. After Nobunaga's death, Toyotomi Hideyoshi returned some of the land to the temple in 1596. In 1613, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted the temple 579 koku of estates for its upkeep. During the Keichō era, Yodo-dono restored the temple. Ishiyama-dera was spared the fires that burned the surrounding mountain, and as a result, many valuable cultural assets, including buildings, Buddhist statues, scriptures, and documents, have been preserved.
The temple features as "The Autumn Moon at Ishiyama" in the Eight Views of Ōmi thematic series in art and literature; examples include ukiyo-e prints by Suzuki Harunobu in the 18th century and Hiroshige in the 19th century.
The temple is about a 10-minute walk from Ishiyamadera Station on the Keihan Railway Ishiyama Sakamoto Line.

Cultural Properties

National Treasures

  • Hondō,, Heian period ;
  • Tahōtō,, Heian period ;
  • Book of Han, Chronicles of Emperor Gao, Volume 2,, Nara period; two scrolls
  • Shiji, Volumes 96 and 97, Nara period; one scroll
  • Gyōkuhen, Volume 27, Part 2, Heian period; two scrolls
  • The Spring and Autumn Classics, Volume 26, Remaining, Heian period; one scroll
  • The Spring and Autumn Classics, Volume 29, Remaining, Heian period; one scroll
  • Shaku-Maka-en Ron, Tang Dynasty; five volumes
  • Sacred Teachings by Jun'yu Naigu, Heian period; 73 scrolls, 1 volume
  • Enryaku Transition Ceremony, Heian period; 1 scroll
  • Enryaku Transition Ceremony, Heian period; 1 scroll
  • Remaining Volume of the Record of Grain Distribution in the Etchū Government Warehouse, Heian period; 1 scroll
  • Remaining Volume of the Record of Grain Distribution in the Etchu Government Warehouse, Heian period ; 1 scroll

National Important Cultural Properties

Structures

  • East Gate, Keichō era ;
  • Shōrō, late Kamakura period ;
  • Ishiyama-dera structures, including Mikage-dō, mid-Muromachi period Rennyō-dō Azuchi-Momoyama period Sanju-hachi-sho Gongen-sha Honden Azuchi-Momoyama period Kyōzō Keichō era ;
  • Hōkyōintō, early Muromachi period ;

Paintings

  • Colored Silk Painting of Fudō Myōō and two Dōji, Kamakura period;
  • Colored Silk Painting of Nehan-zu, Kamakura period;
  • Colored Paper Genji Monogatari, Suetsumuhana chapter,, Edo period ; attributed to Tosa Mitsuoki
  • Colored Paper Ishiyama-dera Engi, Edo period;
  • Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō Pillar Paintings, Kamakura period, 4 pillars

Crafts

  • Bonshō , Heian period;

Archaeologucal Artifacts

  • Bronze bell with a kesadasu design, Yayoi period;

Sculpture

  • Wooden Half-Kneeling Statue of Nyōirin Kannon, Heian period;
  • Artifacts found inside Statue of Nyōirin Kannon, Heian period;
  • Wooden Statue of seated Dainichi Nyorai, Kamakura period; located in Tahōtō, made by Kaikei
  • Wooden Statue of seated Dainichi Nyorai, Heian period; formerly located in Tahōtō
  • Gilt-bronze Standing Kannon Bosatsu, Nara period; It was stolen in 1947, and only the torso below the neck was later discovered. The severed head remains missing.
  • Bronze Seated Shaka Nyorai, Asuka period; 13.0-cm
  • Wooden standing statue of Jikokten, Heian period;
  • Wooden standing statue of Zōchōten, Heian period;
  • Wooden standing statue of Bishamonten', Heian period;
  • Wooden Seated Statue of Vimalakirti, early Heian period; 49.5-cm
  • Wooden Standing Statue of Bishamon-ten, Heian period; 172.5-cm
  • Wooden Seated Statue of Fudō Myōō, Heian period;
  • Wooden Seated Statue of Jun'yu Naiju, Muromachi period ;
  • Core of a Standing Statue of Zaō Gongen', Nara period; Includes a set of sculpture fragments, one halo, and items placed inside the core. This core was found inside a clay statue. It was discovered inside the statue of Zao Gongen, the right-hand attendant of the principal image, that dates to the Edo period, the core dates back to the statue's construction in the Nara period

Calligraphy and ancient documents

  • Biography of Eizan Daishi', Kamakura period;
  • Ten Recitations of the Vinaya , Nara period; dated 768
  • Great Prajnaparamita Sutra, Middle volume, Heian period;
  • Biography of Chisho Daishi, Heian period ;
  • Amoghavajra's Compilation of Tripitaka Tablets, Volume 3', Heian period;
  • The Buddha's Sutra on the Obstacles to Purification of One's Work , Nara period ;
  • Abhidharma-ronki, Heian period; 22 volumes by Fukō, 30 volumes by Hoho and 5 volumes by Enki
  • The Aryasarvastivada-Kusha-Sha, Nara period ;
  • Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, 7 volumes, Heian period;
  • Complete Sutra Collection at Ishiyama-dera, Nara - Muromachi period; 4644 volumes,
  • Ishiyama-dera Arakura Sacred Sutra, Heian - Muromachi period; 1926 volumes in 30 Sutra Boxes
  • A Collection of Japanese Texts, Kamakura period
  • Land Survey Record from the Kenkyu Era, Kamakura period; 2 scrolls
  • Abridged Travels on Paper in Ink , Kamakura period

Shiga Prefecture Designated Tangible Cultural Properties

  • Bishamon-do, Edo period

Ōtsu City Designated Tangible Cultural Properties

  • Colored silk portrait of Murasaki Shikibu, attributed to Kano Takanobu., Edo period
  • Ishiyama-dera Chisokuan Collection, Edo period
  • Roof tiles, Edo period; 26 pcs
  • Ancient Roof tiles, Edo period
  • Colored wood panel painting of a tethered horse., Edo period
  • Junrei-satsu, Edo period; five pcs