Japanese Taj Mahal? 本願寺は父子戦争の結果

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Japanese Taj Mahal? タージマハル？

Tsukiji Hongwanji temple in Tokyo

I've never been to Taj Mahal but felt as if I had been there.

This is Tsukiji Hongwanji temple (whose website is only in Japanese) in Tsukiji Tokyo. It was first built in 1617 but rebuilt in 1934 after being burnt down in a fire in 1923 based on the design by Chuta Ito, a Japanese architect who studied Indian architecture. So it's not so strange that I thought of Taj Mahal when looking at this Japanese temple...

Tsukiji Hongwanji temple is one of more than 10,000 temples across Japan of the Jodo Shin shu school, the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan with Nishi Hongwanji temple in Kyoto as the head temple.

Kyoto has several Hongwanji temples including the two most famous ones, i.e., Nishi Hongwanji temple (the head temple) and Higashi Hongwanji temple, and they have an interesting background as outlined in the table below. The term "nishi" means west while "higashi" east.

Temple names	Location	Founded in	Founded by	Key supporter
Nishi (western) Hongwanji temple	Shichijo Horikawa, Kyoto	1591	Kennyo	Hideyoshi Toyotomi; the second unifier of Japan
Higashi (eastern) Hongwanji temple	East of the Western  Hongwanji	1602	Kyonyo, Kennyo's eldest son	Ieyasu Tokugawa; the third and last unifier of Japan

In short, the eastern temple is the product of the father and son's battle combined with the samurai battle between Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1537-1598) and Ieyasu Tokugawa (1543-1616). Hideyoshi is the second of the three* key samurai warriors contributing to the unification of Japan while Ieyasu being the last who began the Edo period spanning over 260 years from 1603 to 1868.
* Nobunaga Oda (1545-1582), Hideyoshi Toyotomi and then Ieyasu Tokugawa

After years of fighting against Nobunaga, who was Hideyoshi's master, Kennyo (father) accepted a peace agreement with Hideyoshi and established the western temple with Hideyoshi's support. However, his eldest son Kyonyo insisted on continuing to fight. The battle within this Buddhist family resulted in the son becoming independent from his father's group and establishing another temple, the eastern Hongwanji temple, with support from Ieyasu.

From the 1960s to 1980s, however, the eastern temple was further divided into four sub-sects for religious and financial reasons. Three of the four temples of the eastern Hongwanji sect are now in Kyoto while the other in Asakusa Tokyo, but Tsukiji Hongwanji temple is not related to any of these as it belongs to the western ("Nishi") Hongwanji temple group.

Of these Hongwanji temples, I have been to only Tsukiji Hongwanji temple (Tokyo) and Nishi (western) Hongwanji temple, i.e., the father's temple, in Kyoto. The "Taj Mahal" in Tokyo looks completely different from the wooden-built head temple in Kyoto, but it is definitely worthwhile to visit both places.

Nishi (western) Hongwanji temple is five minute walk and Higashi (eastern) Hongwanji temple is seven minute walk from the Kyoto station.

Tsukiji Hongwanji temple is in Tokyo and accessible on foot from the following four stations:

Tsukiji station, Hibiya line - 0 minute walk;
Higashi Ginza station, Hibiya line - 5 minute walk;
Shintomicho station, Yurakucho line - 5 minute walk; and
Tsukiji Shijo station, Toei Oedo line - 5 minute walk

Tsukiji Hongwanji temple has a tourist-friendly coffee shop (with free WiFi) and many sushi and fish restaurants nearby.

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築地本願寺です。でもタージマハルに見えませんか。あまりにきれいで撮ってしまいました。1617年創建ですが、関東大震災の後の火事で焼け落ちてしまい、1934年にインド建築を勉強した伊東忠太氏の設計で建て直されました。タージマハルに見えるのも納得です！

築地本願寺は京都の西本願寺直轄の寺だとのこと。そこでいつも気になっていることを調べてみました。西本願寺と東本願寺ってどう違うの？すると以下のことが分かりました。

名称	創建年度	創健者	庇護者
西本願寺	1591	顕如	豊臣秀吉
東本願寺	1602	教如（顕如の長男）	徳川家康

父子の争いと覇権争いが結びついたのでしょうか。ちなみに1960年代から1980年代にかけて東本願寺はさらに4派に分裂し、その内3つは京都に、残りの1つは浅草に寺があるとのこと（お東騒動）。宗教恐るべしです。

京都の西本願寺と築地本願寺にしか行ったことはありません。見た目は全然違いますが、両方とも見る価値のある寺だと思います！

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