Manshu-in Temple

Overview

Manshu-in (曼殊院, Manshu-in) is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, in the Sakyō-ku ward, in the Ichijōji district. It belongs to the Tendai school and is also known as the Manshuin Monzeki — a monzeki (門跡, monzeki) being a temple whose abbot was traditionally drawn from the imperial family or the high nobility. The temple sits near the Shugakuin Imperial Villa in the north-east of the city.

The temple is counted as part of two pilgrimage routes: the Kinki Thirty-six Fudoson Sacred Ground, and the Shinbutsu Reijō Junpai no Michi, a circuit linking Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Its recorded foundation year is 700, placing its origins in the Asuka period (538–710), the era in which Buddhism took root in Japan.

Manshu-in is the owner of several notable manuscripts, among them the Manshu-in-bon Kokin Wakashū, a copy of the classical poetry anthology; the Manshu-in-bon Genji Monogatari, a manuscript of The Tale of Genji; and the Manshu-in-bon Ki-Fudō, a painted image of the Fudō Myōō. The temple's buildings and gardens are its chief draw today.

History

The monastery was founded by Dengyō Daishi, the monk credited with establishing the Tendai school in Japan. Its original site lay near Mount Hiei, the mountain north-east of Kyoto that became the headquarters of Japanese Tendai, and it was then known as Tobibo. In 1108 or 1109 it was renamed Manshuin.

The temple's documented significant event is a relocation. In the early Edo period the monastery moved to its present site in Ichijōji, leaving its old position near Mount Hiei. That move placed it in the north-eastern corner of Kyoto, close to the imperial villa at Shugakuin, and set the stage for the buildings and gardens that visitors see now.

The Edo-period rebuilding gave the temple its principal structures. The main temple building, the Great Shoin, dates from the early Edo period and is listed as an Important Cultural Property. The smaller hall, the Small Shoin, is likewise an Important Cultural Property.

What Stands There Today

The entry building holds a Tiger Room, with images said to have been painted by Kanō Eitoku (1543–1590); a Bamboo Room with Edo wood-block prints; and a Peacock Room with pictures by Ganku (1749/56–1839). These rooms take their names from the artwork on their sliding doors and walls.

The Great Shoin contains a Waterfall Room with sliding doors by Kanō Tan'yū (1602–1674), and a Snowy Scenes Room with screen pictures by the same artist, along with shelves much like those in the Katsura Imperial Villa. The Small Shoin holds the Mount Fuji Room, its sliding doors painted by Kanō Tan'yū; a Twilight Room with a royal throne and further paintings by Kanō; and a tea room.

The major garden is laid out in the karesansui (枯山水, karesansui) style — a dry landscape garden using sand and stone rather than water. It is designated a Place of Scenic Beauty. Within it stands a notable five-needle pine, Pinus pentaphylla, now about 400 years old, set on an "island" in a stream of white sand. The inner garden is quite small and features a stone basin and an old well.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name is written 曼殊院. It is read まんしゅいん in kana, and rendered in romaji as Manshu-in.

Breaking it down character by character:

• 曼 — read man in this word. The character means "long," "extended," or "graceful." In Buddhist writing it appears in transcriptions of Sanskrit sounds, where the kanji are chosen for their pronunciation rather than their everyday meaning.
• 殊 — read shu in this word. It means "special," "distinct," or "particularly." Here too it serves a phonetic role in a Buddhist name rather than carrying its ordinary sense.
• 院 — read in in this word. It means "institution," "hall," or "temple." In Japanese temple names, in commonly marks a cloister or a sub-temple, and it is the element that tells a reader this is a religious foundation.

Together the three characters form a single name, and the reading runs man + shu + in, with the middle and final sounds joining smoothly into Manshu-in. The name is also written in English sources as Manshuin, without the hyphen.

Visiting and Context

Manshu-in lies in Ichijōji, in Sakyō-ku, in the north-east of Kyoto, at coordinates roughly 35.05° north and 135.80° east. It stands near the Shugakuin Imperial Villa, and the two are often considered together when planning a route through this quiet part of the city.

The temple's setting on the Shinbutsu Reijō Junpai no Michi places it within a wider network of religious sites that mix Shinto and Buddhist practice, and its membership in the Kinki Thirty-six Fudoson Sacred Ground links it to a circuit of temples devoted to Fudō Myōō. Its own collection includes the Manshu-in-bon Ki-Fudō, a painted Fudō image, which fits that devotional connection.

For a visitor, the appeal is concentrated in the shoin buildings and the gardens. The Great Shoin and Small Shoin carry the paintings and the Edo-period interiors; the karesansui garden, with its white sand and its centuries-old pine, supplies the view that the temple is best known for. The combination of imperial-family lineage, Edo architecture, and a nationally recognised landscape is what gives Manshu-in its standing among Kyoto's northern temples.