Sōfuku-ji Temple

Overview

Sōfuku-ji (崇福寺, そうふくじ) is a Rinzai Zen temple in Hakata-ku, the ward of Fukuoka that contains the old port district of Hakata. Its honorary prefix, or sangō (山号, さんごう, "mountain name"), is Yokodakezan (横岳山, よこだけざん) — a convention borrowed from Chinese temple naming, in which a monastery is formally styled as a "mountain" even when it stands on flat ground.

The temple belongs to the Rinzai school, the branch of Zen that arrived in Japan from Song-dynasty China in the thirteenth century and became the favoured tradition of the Kamakura and Muromachi warrior governments. Sōfuku-ji was founded in 1240, during the Kamakura period (1185–1333), in the first year of the Ninji era (仁治, にんじ). It stands today at 33.6057° N, 130.4140° E, in the heart of Hakata.

History

The temple was founded in 1240 by the monk Tan'e (湛慧, たんえ), and its original site was Dazaifu, the old administrative capital of Kyushu lying inland to the south-east of Hakata. Dazaifu had been the seat of the regional government since the eighth century, and it remained the natural place for a major new monastery in the early Kamakura period.

The founding date places Sōfuku-ji in the first generation of Rinzai foundations in Japan. The monk Eisai had brought Rinzai teaching back from China only a few decades earlier, and the school was still establishing itself when Tan'e founded this temple. The Ninji era name itself lasted only a single year, which makes the date unusually easy to pin down.

In 1600 the temple was moved to its present location in Hakata and became the family temple of the Kuroda, the daimyō house that ruled the Fukuoka domain throughout the Edo period. A family temple of this kind — a bodaiji (菩提寺, ぼだいじ) — held the memorial tablets of the clan dead and received the patronage that came with it. The move from Dazaifu to Hakata therefore marks a change of both place and function: from a Kamakura-era Zen foundation in the old regional capital to the dynastic temple of the rulers of Fukuoka.

What Stands There Today

The temple occupies its Hakata-ku site, the location it has held since the move of 1600. As the Kuroda family temple, it preserves the connection to the domain's ruling house that the move created.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name is written 崇福寺. Its kana reading is そうふくじ, and its romaji is Sōfuku-ji. The macron over the first o marks a long vowel: the う in そう lengthens the そ, so the first syllable is held for two beats. The final じ is voiced, not shi.

Character by character:

• 崇 — read そう (sō) in this name. It means "to revere, to hold in high esteem, to exalt." It is the kanji of veneration, used in words such as 崇拝 (すうはい, sūhai, "worship").
• 福 — read ふく (fuku) in this name. It means "fortune, good luck, blessing." It is one of the most common auspicious characters in Japanese, familiar from 福 (ふく, fuku) in New Year decorations and from the name of the god Fukurokuju.
• 寺 — read じ (ji) in this name. It means "temple." On its own the character is read てら (tera), but in compound temple names it regularly becomes じ, as here and in such names as 東大寺 (とうだいじ, Tōdai-ji).

Put together, the name means something like "Temple of Revering Fortune" or "Temple of Exalted Blessing" — a devotional name of the kind common to Chinese and Japanese Buddhist foundations, pairing an attitude of reverence with the promise of good fortune.

Two further points of vocabulary are worth knowing for reading about this temple. The word sangō (山号, さんごう) refers to the honorary "mountain name" that precedes a Zen temple's proper name; Sōfuku-ji's is 横岳山 (よこだけざん, Yokodakezan). And bodaiji (菩提寺, ぼだいじ) means a family temple, the temple a household or clan maintains for memorial services to its ancestors.

Visiting and Context

Sōfuku-ji sits in Hakata-ku, the ward that holds the historic port core of Fukuoka. The area is the city's oldest quarter and is dense with temples, shrines and merchant history, so the temple is naturally visited as part of a walk through Hakata rather than as an isolated stop.

For readers of Japanese, the name repays attention. The そう reading of 崇 is the one to learn here; the character is otherwise encountered in formal vocabulary of reverence. The shift from てら to じ in 寺 is a sound change that recurs across hundreds of temple names, and recognising it makes signboards and maps far easier to read. The long vowel in Sōfuku-ji is likewise worth hearing clearly: そう is two beats, and Japanese speakers will notice if it is shortened.

The temple's position in the historical record is clear at both ends: a Kamakura-period Zen foundation of 1240 in Dazaifu, and an Edo-period family temple of the Kuroda in Hakata from 1600. Between those two dates lies the whole medieval span of the Rinzai school's rise and consolidation in Kyushu.