Taisan-ji Temple

Overview

Taisan-ji (太山寺, たいさんじ, Taisan-ji) is a Buddhist temple in Kobe, in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It belongs to the Tendai (天台, てんだい) school, one of the major traditions of Japanese Buddhism, and its full name is Sanshinzan Taisan-ji (三身山太山寺). The temple was founded in 716, during the Nara period (710–794), and its Main Hall, completed in 1293, is designated a National Treasure of Japan. Taisan-ji is located in the western part of Kobe, at coordinates 34.6965360, 135.0674920, and it takes part in two pilgrimage circuits: the New Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage and the Kobe Thirteen Buddhas pilgrimage (神戸十三仏霊場, こうべじゅうさんぶつれいじょう).

History

Taisan-ji was established in 716 on the instruction of Empress Genshō (元正天皇, げんしょうてんのう), who reigned from 715 to 724. The foundation fell in the second year of the Reiki era (霊亀, れいき), a nengō (年号, ねんごう) — an era name used to count years — that ran from 715 to 717. The temple therefore belongs to the Nara period, the era when Buddhism was consolidated under imperial patronage and when the great state temples of Nara were built.

The Main Hall that stands at the site today was completed in 1293, more than five and a half centuries after the temple's founding. That building, the Main Hall of Taisan-ji, is a National Treasure of Japan, the country's highest designation for a cultural property. The temple is affiliated with the Tendai sect, the school that grew out of the teachings brought back from China by the monk Saichō (最澄, さいちょう) in the early ninth century and that became one of the dominant Buddhist traditions of the Heian and medieval periods.

What Stands There Today

The centrepiece of the temple is its Main Hall, completed in 1293 and designated a National Treasure of Japan. It is the element of the site singled out in official records of the temple's holdings. Taisan-ji also functions as a stop on two active pilgrimage routes: the New Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a circuit of temples dedicated to Kannon (観音, かんのん), the bodhisattva of compassion, and the Kobe Thirteen Buddhas pilgrimage, a local circuit of thirteen sacred sites in Kobe. The temple stands in Kobe, in Hyōgo Prefecture, at coordinates 34.6965360, 135.0674920.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name is written 太山寺. It is read in kana as たいさんじ, and in romaji as Taisan-ji.

Broken down character by character:

• 太 — read here as tai. The character means "thick," "fat," "great," or "grand." It is the same character used in words like 太鼓 (たいこ, taiko, a drum) and 太陽 (たいよう, taiyō, the sun). In this name it lends a sense of largeness or grandeur.
• 山 — read here as san. The character means "mountain." Its native Japanese reading is やま (yama), and it appears in countless temple and place names, such as 比叡山 (ひえいざん, Hieizan) and 富士山 (ふじさん, Fujisan). In temple names it often reflects the mountain on which the temple was built or with which it is associated.
• 寺 — read here as ji. The character means "temple" or "Buddhist temple." Its native Japanese reading is てら (tera). It is the standard suffix for Buddhist temple names across Japan, as in 清水寺 (きよみずでら, Kiyomizudera) and 東大寺 (とうだいじ, Tōdaiji).

The full name of the temple, Sanshinzan Taisan-ji, is written 三身山太山寺. The element 三身山 (さんしんざん, Sanshinzan) is the temple's sangō (山号, さんごう) — a "mountain name," a title prefixed to many Japanese temple names regardless of whether the temple actually sits on a mountain. The sangō 三身山 uses 三 (さん, san, "three"), 身 (しん, shin, "body"), and 山 (さん, san, "mountain"); the "three bodies" refers to a Buddhist concept, the three bodies of a Buddha.

Visiting and Context

Taisan-ji sits in Kobe, in Hyōgo Prefecture, in the Kansai region of western Japan. Its founding date of 716 places it among the religious foundations of the Nara period, when Japanese Buddhism was closely tied to the imperial court, and its Main Hall of 1293 places it among the medieval temples whose buildings survive as National Treasures. For readers of Japanese, the name is a compact lesson in how temple names work: a grand modifier (太), a mountain element (山), and the ubiquitous temple suffix (寺), read together as Taisan-ji.