Byōdō-in Temple

Timeline

1. late 9th century

   Minamoto no Tōru's Villa

   Minamoto no Tōru, Minister of the Left of the Saga Genji branch, established a riverside villa at Uji. Regarded as a model for Hikaru Genji, his estate later passed to Emperors Yōzei and Uda.

2. 998

   Michinaga Acquires Uji-dono

   In Chōtoku 4, after passing through Emperor Uda's grandson Minamoto no Shigenobu, the property was acquired by the regent Fujiwara no Michinaga and renamed Uji-dono, symbol of his political ascendancy.

3. 1052

   Foundation of Byōdō-in

   In Eishō 7, against acute Mappō (Latter Day of the Dharma) anxiety, the regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi converted Uji-dono inherited from his father Michinaga into the Buddhist temple Byōdō-in.

4. 1053

   Phoenix Hall Completed

   In Tenki 1, the Amida Hall — materializing Amida's Western Pure Land on earth — was completed. The jōroku Amida Nyorai seated statue carved by master sculptor Jōchō was enshrined as principal image.

5. 1074

   Death of Fujiwara no Yorimichi

   In Enkyū 6, the founder of Byōdō-in, Fujiwara no Yorimichi, died at the temple. Thereafter Byōdō-in became a core estate inherited by successive heads of the Fujiwara regent house.

6. 1180

   Suicide of Minamoto no Yorimasa

   In Jishō 4, Minamoto no Yorimasa, having risen for Prince Mochihito's call to arms, was defeated at the Battle of Uji Bridge and took his life on the Ōgi-no-shiba within Byōdō-in, opening the Genpei War.

7. 1336

   Buildings Lost in Kenmu Disturbance

   In the first month of Kenmu 3, the temple was caught in the clash between Ashikaga Takauji and Kusunoki Masashige; arson by Kusunoki's troops consumed nearly all halls except the Phoenix Hall and Kannon-dō.

8. 1610

   Separation from Onjō-ji

   In Keichō 15, Byōdō-in — a subsidiary of Onjō-ji (Mii-dera) since its founding — left the Onjō-ji branch system, beginning joint administration by the Jōdo-in and Saishō-in subtemples.

9. 1681

   Joint Jōdo / Tendai Rule Confirmed

   In Tenna 1, an Edo-shogunate jisha-bugyō ruling fixed yearly-rotation joint administration by Jōdo-shū's Jōdo-in and Tendai Jimon-ha's Saishō-in, an arrangement that continues today.

10. 1902-1907

    Meiji Restoration

    Between Meiji 35 and 40, a comprehensive dismantling and reassembly of the Phoenix Hall — the Meiji Restoration — was undertaken, beginning systematic preservation of the long-neglected late-Heian architecture.

11. 1951

    National Treasure Designation

    Under the postwar Cultural Properties Protection Law, both the Phoenix Hall and the Amida Nyorai seated statue were elevated to National Treasure status. The Phoenix Hall also debuted on the 10-yen coin that year.

12. 1994

    UNESCO World Heritage

    In December of Heisei 6, Byōdō-in was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of seventeen component properties of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, securing its international heritage status.

13. 2001

    Hōshōkan Museum Opens

    In Heisei 13, the Byōdō-in Museum Hōshōkan designed by architect Akira Kuryu opened on the southwest precincts to exhibit National Treasure originals such as the Unchū Kuyō Bosatsu and the bronze bell.

14. 2012-2014

    Heisei Major Restoration

    A large-scale restoration re-tiled the Phoenix Hall roof, restored its exterior vermilion and gold pigments, and re-gilded the pair of phoenixes, partially reviving the brilliant founding-era polychromy.

Detailed History

The site originated in the late 9th century as a Uji riverside villa of Minamoto no Tōru, Minister of the Left of the Saga Genji branch and a model for Hikaru Genji in The Tale of Genji. After Tōru's death the villa passed through Emperors Yōzei and Uda, becoming Emperor Suzaku's detached palace Uji-in. In Chōtoku 4 (998), regent Fujiwara no Michinaga acquired it from Emperor Uda's grandson Minamoto no Shigenobu and renamed it Uji-dono. After Michinaga's death in 1027, his successor as kampaku, Fujiwara no Yorimichi, converted Uji-dono into a temple in Eishō 7 (1052) amid acute Mappō anxiety. The founding abbot was Myōson, grandson of the calligrapher Ono no Michikaze and head priest of Onjō-ji (Mii-dera); Yorimichi obtained the name Byōdō-in by having Myōson transfer it from an existing temple at Okazaki in Kyoto. The following year, Tenki 1 (1053), the Amida Hall — today's Phoenix Hall — was completed and Jōchō's jōroku Amida Nyorai was enshrined as principal image. Yorimichi himself died at the temple in Enkyū 6 (1074). As an Onjō-ji subsidiary, Byōdō-in symbolized Fujiwara prosperity, and from 1106 it hosted the Uji-iri ceremony marking each new Fujiwara clan head. In Jishō 4 (1180), Minamoto no Yorimasa, risen for Prince Mochihito, was defeated at the Battle of Uji Bridge and took his life on the Ōgi-no-shiba within the grounds, opening the Genpei War. The temple later served as Kamakura headquarters under Hōjō Yasutoki during the Jōkyū War of 1221. In Kenmu 3 (1336), arson by Kusunoki Masashige's troops during his clash with Ashikaga Takauji destroyed nearly all buildings except the Phoenix Hall. The monastery declined through the Muromachi period, but in the Meiō era (1492-1501) the Jōdo-shū monk Eikyū rebuilt the Jōdo-in subtemple, and in 1654 the Tendai Jimon-ha founded the Saishō-in subtemple. Byōdō-in left the Onjō-ji branch in 1610, and in Tenna 1 (1681) the Edo shogunate fixed yearly-rotation joint administration by Jōdo-shū and Tendai Jimon-ha, still in effect today. The Meiji Restoration of the Phoenix Hall ran 1902-1907. Under the 1950 Cultural Properties Protection Law the hall became an Important Cultural Property, and in 1951 both the hall and the Amida were elevated to National Treasures. The Hōshōkan Museum by architect Akira Kuryu opened in 2001, and the Heisei Restoration of 2012-2014 re-tiled the roof and re-gilded the phoenixes.

Cultural Significance

Byōdō-in is one of seventeen component properties of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, inscribed in 1994, concentrating an unparalleled density of cultural treasures: six National Treasures including the Phoenix Hall, the Amida Nyorai seated statue, 26 Unchū Kuyō Bosatsu, the bronze temple bell, the pair of gilded phoenixes, and the inner sanctum wall paintings. Above all, the Phoenix Hall has appeared on the obverse of the 10-yen coin since the 1951 redesign, making it the most familiar National Treasure to every Japanese person who has opened a wallet — "the National Treasure nearest at hand" — and a phoenix image modeled on the Byōdō-in birds also adorns the reverse of the new 10,000-yen banknote. The mountain name (sangō) is Asahi-zan, the principal image is Amida Nyorai, and since the 17th century the temple has been jointly managed in an unusual arrangement: the Jōdo-shū subtemple Jōdo-in and the Honzan Shugen-shū subtemple Saishō-in alternate administration year by year. The cultural reach is enormous: the Uji landscape was sacralized as the setting of Murasaki Shikibu's Uji Jūjō, the final ten chapters of The Tale of Genji, and recurs in modern literature including Kawabata Yasunari's The Old Capital. A full-scale Phoenix Hall replica was built on Oahu, Hawaii in 1968 to commemorate the centennial of Japanese immigration there.

Architectural Details

The Phoenix Hall is a late-Heian Amida-dō consisting of a central main hall (chū-dō), northern and southern wing corridors, and a rear tail corridor (bi-rō). The chū-dō shelters a three-by-two-bay moya wrapped by a mokoshi skirt-roof under an irimoya hip-and-gable roof in honkawarabuki tile; the wing corridors are two-storied folded structures projecting forward in a pavilion silhouette, while the tail corridor cantilevers single-aisle into the Aji Pond. A pair of gilt-bronze phoenixes — replicas, originals in the Hōshōkan — crown either end of the central ridge, so the entire building reads as a sacred bird descending with outstretched wings. The principal image, the jōroku-scale Amida Nyorai (about 2.4 m), is Jōchō's masterwork in yosegi-zukuri joined-wood construction with lacquer-and-gold-leaf finish, codifying the canonical Wayō style of late-Heian Buddhist sculpture. The inner sanctum walls and panel doors bear painted Raigō scenes of the nine grades of rebirth (kuhon raigō-zu) following the Contemplation Sutra, with 52 cloud-borne attendant Bodhisattvas in relief above the nageshi tie beams. The garden is a Jōdo-style Pure Land garden centered on the Aji Pond, choreographed for visualizing the Western Pure Land. The Hōshōkan Museum (Akira Kuryu, 2001) is a semi-buried turf-roofed structure that defers to the historic landscape.