Gokuraku-ji Temple

Overview

Gokuraku-ji (極楽寺) is a Shingon temple in Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku. It is Temple 2 of the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage, the henro (遍路) circuit of 88 Buddhist sites associated with the monk Kūkai. The temple belongs to the Kōya-san branch of Shingon, and its main image is Amida Nyorai (阿弥陀如来), the Buddha of Infinite Light. Its grounds sit at Ōasa-chō Hinoki in Naruto, at roughly 34.16° north, 134.49° east.

History

Gokuraku-ji was founded in 800, the nineteenth year of the Enryaku era (延暦), during the Heian period. The Heian period ran from 794 to 1185, so the temple's foundation falls in its opening decade, when the new capital at Heian-kyō — modern Kyoto — had only recently been established.

The temple is said to have been founded by Gyōki (行基), the monk who travelled the provinces of Japan in the eighth century, building bridges, irrigation works and temples, and who is credited with founding many of the sites that later became pilgrimage stops. Attribution to Gyōki is a traditional account rather than a dated record, but it places Gokuraku-ji among the older layer of Shikoku's sacred geography, predating the pilgrimage route itself.

On the pilgrimage circuit, Gokuraku-ji follows Ryōzen-ji (霊山寺), Temple 1, and is followed by Konsen-ji (金泉寺), Temple 3. Ryōzen-ji, in Naruto, is the traditional starting point of the 88-temple route, which means Gokuraku-ji is the first temple a walking pilgrim reaches after setting out.

What Stands There Today

The temple stands in the Hinoki district of Ōasa-chō, in the northern part of Tokushima Prefecture, an area of the Naruto plain between the mountains and the coast. As Temple 2, it is a working pilgrimage site with the standard furnishings of a Shikoku henro stop: a main hall housing the principal image of Amida Nyorai, a daishi-dō (大師堂) dedicated to Kūkai, and a nōkyō-sho (納経所) where pilgrims receive a red seal and calligraphic inscription in their stamp books.

Pilgrims arriving from Temple 1 have a short walk of a few kilometres, which makes the first day of the circuit gentle and gives the route its rhythm: a cluster of lowland temples before the climb into the mountains of Tokushima.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name is written 極楽寺. It is read in kana as ごくらくじ, and in romaji as Gokuraku-ji.

The name breaks into three kanji:

• 極 — read goku here. The character means "extreme", "utmost" or "peak". In this word it carries the sense of the highest or furthest point.
• 楽 — read raku here. It means "pleasure", "ease", "comfort" or "joy". Together, 極楽 (gokuraku) means "supreme bliss" and is the standard Japanese translation of Sukhāvatī, the Western Paradise of Amida Nyorai.
• 寺 — read ji here. It means "temple". This is the usual suffix for a Buddhist temple name, and it appears in the names of many of the 88 pilgrimage sites, including Ryōzen-ji and Konsen-ji on either side of this one.

So 極楽寺 means, plainly, "Temple of Supreme Bliss". The name is not decorative: it names the destination that the temple's main image, Amida Nyorai, presides over. In Pure Land thought, rebirth in 極楽 — the land of utmost joy — is the goal of devotion to Amida, and a temple dedicated to him is naturally named for that land.

The reading of 寺 as ji rather than tera is a sound change that occurs in compounds. Standing alone, the character is read tera; joined to a preceding element, it voices to ji, as in 極楽寺. English speakers who know the word teriyaki have already met the standalone form.

Note also that 楽 appears in many Japanese words with the sense of comfort or enjoyment, and its reading shifts with context — raku in 極楽, gaku in 音楽 (ongaku, "music"), tano in 楽しい (tanoshii, "enjoyable"). The raku in this temple's name is the same raku found in 楽園 (rakuen, "paradise").

Visiting and Context

Gokuraku-ji is the second stop on a route that pilgrims traditionally walk in order, beginning at Ryōzen-ji. Its position near the start means it is often visited on the first day, and its lowland setting makes the approach undemanding compared with the mountain temples further along the Tokushima section of the circuit.

The temple lies in Naruto, a city at the eastern edge of Shikoku facing the Naruto Strait, known for the whirlpools formed by the tides passing between Shikoku and Awaji Island. Pilgrims travelling by car or bus can reach the temple from Naruto Station, and the surrounding Ōasa-chō district keeps the temple within easy reach of the city's main roads.

For readers studying Japanese, the temple's name is a compact lesson in how Buddhist vocabulary entered the language. 極楽 is a Chinese rendering of a Sanskrit concept, imported along with the sutras and the schools that read them, and 寺 is the native suffix that marks the building. The combination — a translated Indian idea plus a Japanese architectural term — is the ordinary shape of a Japanese temple name, and Gokuraku-ji shows it in three characters.