Kisshō-ji Temple

Overview

Kisshō-ji (吉祥寺, きちじょうじ, Kisshō-ji) is a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, founded in 1458. It stands in Hon-Komagome, a district of Bunkyō ward, at coordinates 35.7274° N, 139.7535° E. The temple belongs to the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism, and its grounds contain a structure known as the Sendan-Rin.

The temple's date of foundation places it firmly in the Muromachi period (1336–1573), the era when the Ashikaga shoguns ruled from Kyoto and warrior government, court culture and Zen institutions all overlapped. 1458 corresponds to the second year of the Chōroku era (長禄, ちょうろく), a nengō (年号, ねんごう, era name) used between 1457 and 1460.

Kisshō-ji is not merely an old building with a graveyard. It is the institutional ancestor of one of Japan's largest universities, and it holds the grave of one of the most consequential figures of the nineteenth-century Japanese state.

History

Kisshō-ji was founded in 1458, in the second year of Chōroku, during the Muromachi period. The temple was established in what is now Hon-Komagome in Bunkyō ward, Tokyo — though in 1458 the area was open country on the northern edge of the Kantō plain, far from the political centre at Kyoto.

In 1592, a school for Buddhist monks called the Sendan-Rin was founded within the temple precincts. The Sendan-Rin was a training institution: a place where monks studied, were examined and were formed. Its establishment inside a temple rather than at a court or a noble household reflects the way Buddhist education in this period was carried on through the monastic network itself.

The Sendan-Rin's later history runs directly into modern Japanese higher education. In 1905 the Sendan-Rin School was renamed Sōtō-shū University — that is, the university of the Sōtō school of Zen. In 1925, Sōtō-shū University became Komazawa University. Komazawa University still operates in Tokyo today, and traces its institutional lineage to the school founded at Kisshō-ji in 1592.

In 1908, Enomoto Takeaki was buried at the temple, at the age of 72. Enomoto had been a naval leader on the losing side of the Boshin War of the 1860s, and afterwards entered the service of the Meiji government, holding a succession of senior posts. His grave at Kisshō-ji makes the temple a site of pilgrimage for those interested in the Meiji period.

What Stands There Today

The temple remains an active Buddhist temple in Hon-Komagome, Bunkyō ward, in the northern part of central Tokyo. Its grounds contain the Sendan-Rin, the structure associated with the monastic school founded in 1592. The temple also holds the grave of Enomoto Takeaki, who was buried there in 1908.

The neighbourhood around the temple is residential and institutional, sitting in the cluster of Bunkyō ward districts — Komagome, Hongō, Yushima — that contain a dense concentration of Tokyo's universities and temples. Komazawa University, the descendant of the Sendan-Rin school, is not at Kisshō-ji; it is a separate modern campus elsewhere in Tokyo. The connection between the two is historical and institutional, not geographical.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name is written 吉祥寺. It is read きちじょうじ in kana, and rendered in romaji as Kichijōji — or, in the alternative reading used for the temple's own name, Kisshō-ji. Both readings attach to the same three characters; the difference is a matter of convention, and the temple is known by both.

Breaking the name down character by character:

吉 — read kichi (or kitsu) in this word. It means "good fortune", "luck", "auspiciousness". It is one of the most common auspicious characters in Japanese naming, and appears in personal names, place names and temple names across the country.

祥 — read shō (or jō) in this word. It means "auspicious", "blessed", "good omen". It is a close synonym of 吉 and is frequently paired with it; the two together intensify the sense of good fortune rather than adding a distinct idea.

寺 — read ji in this word. It means "temple", specifically a Buddhist temple. This character is the standard suffix for Buddhist temple names in Japan: 寺 appears at the end of temple names everywhere, and its reading shifts between ji and dera depending on the name.

So the whole name means, roughly, "Auspicious Temple" — a name built from two near-synonymous auspicious characters plus the ordinary word for a Buddhist temple. The pattern is extremely common in Japanese temple naming: an auspicious or poetic two-character element followed by 寺.

One practical note for learners: the place name Kichijōji in western Tokyo — the neighbourhood around Kichijōji Station — is written with the same three characters, 吉祥寺. The neighbourhood takes its name from this temple, which once stood there before being moved to its present site in Hon-Komagome. The name travelled; the temple did.

Visiting and Context

Kisshō-ji sits in Hon-Komagome, Bunkyō ward, in northern central Tokyo, at 35.7274° N, 139.7535° E. The area is served by the Komagome area's rail and subway connections and is within walking distance of several other temples and the University of Tokyo's Hongō campus.

For readers of Japanese, the temple's name is a useful piece of vocabulary in itself. 吉祥 (きちじょう, kichijō) is a live word meaning "good fortune" or "auspiciousness", used in modern Japanese in phrases and in the set expression 吉祥天 (Kichijōten), the goddess of fortune. Recognising 吉祥寺 as "auspicious temple" makes the name memorable, and it also explains why the same three characters turn up as a Tokyo place name unconnected to any temple visit.

The temple's historical weight comes from two things: it is the birthplace of the school that became Komazawa University, and it is the burial place of Enomoto Takeaki. Both facts are specific and dated — 1592 for the Sendan-Rin, 1905 for the renaming to Sōtō-shū University, 1925 for the change to Komazawa University, and 1908 for Enomoto's burial at the age of 72.