Daishō-in Temple

Overview

Daishō-in (大照院) is a Buddhist temple in the Tsubaki-chō (椿町) neighbourhood of Hagi, a castle town on the Sea of Japan coast in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It belongs to the Nanzen-ji branch of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen, and its honzon (本尊, the principal image kept in the main hall) is a statue of Shaka Nyorai (釈迦如来) — the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni. The temple was founded in 1656, in the second year of the Meireki era, during the Edo period. It is one of the stops on the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, a circuit of temples across the Chūgoku region.

History

Daishō-in was established in 1656, the second year of Meireki (明暦), during the Edo period. The temple is named after Mōri Hidenari (毛利秀就), the first daimyō of the Hagi domain, who died in the previous year. Hidenari was the son of Mōri Terumoto and the first head of the Mōri house after its transfer to Hagi; a family memorial temple of this kind was a standard act of filial piety for a daimyō house, and Daishō-in served the Mōri as a burial and memorial temple.

The temple's affiliation is with the Nanzen-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. Nanzen-ji, in Kyoto, is the head temple of one of the major Rinzai lineages, and its branch temples are scattered across western Japan. The Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, of which Daishō-in is a stop, is a regional circuit of thirty-three temples dedicated to Kannon (観音), the bodhisattva of compassion; the number thirty-three refers to the thirty-three forms in which Kannon is said to appear.

What Stands There Today

The temple stands in Tsubaki-chō, in the eastern part of Hagi's old town, at coordinates 34.3954° N, 131.3914° E. Hagi itself is a well-preserved castle town: the old samurai quarters, with their earthen walls and gates, survive in several districts, and the city is a UNESCO World Heritage site associated with Japan's Meiji industrial revolution. Daishō-in is one of the Mōri family's temples in the city, and its grounds contain the family graves. The temple's honzon, a statue of Shaka Nyorai, is the object of worship in the main hall.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name is written 大照院. In kana it is だいしょういん, and in romaji it is Daishō-in. The name breaks down into three characters:

• 大 — read here as だい (dai). Meaning: "great" or "large". This is the same character and reading found in 大学 (daigaku, university) and 大仏 (daibutsu, great Buddha).
• 照 — read here as しょう (shō). Meaning: "to shine", "to illuminate", or "to reflect light". The same character appears in 照明 (shōmei, lighting) and 照り返す (terikaesu, to reflect back). In temple names it often carries the sense of a light that illuminates the Buddhist teaching.
• 院 — read here as いん (in). Meaning: "temple" or "cloister". Originally it referred to a walled precinct or an enclosed hall within a larger temple complex, and it came to be used as a suffix in the names of many temples, especially those of the nobility and warrior class. The same suffix appears in 鹿苑寺 (Rokuon-ji, the Golden Pavilion) and 慈照寺 (Jishō-ji, the Silver Pavilion).

The reading of the middle character is the one point worth noting: 照 is normally read teru or shō in compounds, and here it takes the shō reading, which is why the temple is Daishō-in and not Daitera-in or similar. The hyphen in the romaji marks the boundary between 大照 (Daishō) and 院 (in), so the name is pronounced with a clear break: Dai-shō-in.

Visiting and Context

Hagi is reached by bus or car from Yamaguchi City, and the temple districts of the old town are walkable. Daishō-in sits in Tsubaki-chō, in the eastern part of the city, near the Mōri family's other temples and the old samurai residential streets. Visitors to Hagi commonly combine the temple with the nearby Hagi Castle ruins, the Kikuya and other preserved merchant houses, and the pottery kilns of Hagi-yaki (萩焼), the local ceramic ware for which the city is famous.

As a stop on the Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Daishō-in receives pilgrims who collect the pilgrimage's stamps and calligraphy at each temple. The circuit covers thirty-three temples across the Chūgoku region, and Hagi's position on the Japan Sea coast makes it one of the westernmost points on the route. The temple's grounds, with the Mōri graves, are the main historical draw; the honzon is shown according to the temple's own schedule of observances.