1.
Main Hall (Japanese Buddhism)
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Main hall is the term used in English for the building within a Japanese Buddhist temple compound which enshrines the main object of veneration. Because the various denominations deliberately use different terms, this single English term translates several Japanese words, among them Butsuden, Butsu-dō, kondō, konpon-chūdō, and hondō. Hondō is its exact Japanese equivalent, while the others are more specialized words used by particular sects or for edifices having a particular structure, the term kondō, literally golden hall, started to be used during the Asuka and Nara periods. A kondō is the centerpiece of an ancient Buddhist temples garan in Japan, the origin of the name is uncertain, but it may derive from the perceived preciousness of its content, or from the fact that the interior was lined with gold. This is the used by the oldest temples in the country. The second story has the dimensions as the temples core at the first story. Some temples, for example Asuka-dera or Hōryū-ji, have more than one kondō, because of its limited size, worshipers were not allowed to enter the building and had to stand outside. The kondō and a pagoda were usually surrounded by a corridor called kairō, the use of kondō declined after the 10th century, when it was replaced by a hondō divided in naijin and gejin. The term remained in use even up to the Edo period. The term hondō, literally means hall and it enshrines the most important objects of veneration. The term is thought to have evolved during the 9th century to avoid the early term kondō and it became common after the introduction of the two Mikkyo sects to Japan. Various new types of buildings, including the hondō, were built during the Heian period. Different buildings were called hondō depending on the sect, for example, the kondō, the chudō, mieidō, a notable evolution of the hondō during this period is the inclusion of a space for worshipers inside the hondō itself, called gejin. Other names such as Konpon-chūdō, literally cardinal central hall are used as well, the Tokugawa funeral temple of Kanei-ji, which had been built explicitly to imitate Enryaku-ji, also had one, though it has not survived. Yama-dera in Yamagata is another example of a temple using this name, the Butsuden or Butsu-dō, literally Buddha Hall, is the main hall of Zen temples of schools such as the Sōtō 曹洞 and Rinzai 臨済. This architectonic style arrived together with Zen during the Kamakura period and it is also known that during the 13th and 14th centuries very large butsuden measuring 5x5 bays square having a mokoshi were built, but none survives. Large size 3x3 bay butsuden with a mokoshi however still exist, in the case of the Ōbaku Zen school that arrived late in Japan, the architecture retained the Ming Chinese style. The hondō of Ōbaku Zen temples is usually called daiyū-hōden, literally ‘the Treasured Hall of the Mahāvīra ’, an example can be found at Mampuku-ji
2.
Chiba Prefecture
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Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. The sixth most populous prefecture, and 27th largest by area, Chiba is on the east coast of Honshu and largely consists of the Bōsō Peninsula. The name of Chiba Prefecture in Japanese is formed from two kanji characters, the first, 千, means thousand and the second, 葉 means leaves. The name first appears as an ancient kuni no miyatsuko, or regional command office, the name was adopted by a branch of the Taira clan, which moved to the area in present-day Chiba City in the late Heian period. The branch of the Taira adopted the name and became the Chiba clan and this compound is used in terms such as the Keiyō Line, Keiyō Road, Keiyō Rinkai Railway Rinkai Main Line, and the Keiyō Industrial Zone. Chiba Prefecture was settled in times, as evidenced by the Jōmon period remains in every part of the region. The prefecture holds the largest kaizuka sea shell mounds in Japan, evidence of a population in the prefecture that relied on the rich marine products of the Pacific Ocean. Kofun burial mounds are found across the prefecture, with the largest group being in Futtsu along Tokyo Bay, in the Asuka period, under the Taika Reform of 645, the administrative structure of present-day Chiba Prefecture changed significantly. Awa Province at the south of Chiba Prefecture, was separated from Kazusa Prefecture in 718 and these administrative units existed until they were abolished and merged into Chiba Prefecture after the Meiji restoration. The central government established a provincial temple in each province. The imperial court gradually extended its authority over the three provinces in the Nara and Heian periods, shōen feudal estates were established across the three provinces, and the region became an important source of tax revenue, agricultural and other products to the capital in Kyoto. As the Heian period progressed, however, the provincial governors came to exert military power independent of the central government in Kyoto. The Chiba clan broke entirely with the court and was instrumental in the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate. Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15,1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake caused widespread destruction in Chiba Prefecture, notably in the southernmost part of the Bōsō Peninsula, where 1,300 residents were killed. Koreans in several neighborhoods of Yachiyo were killed, and a tower was erected in 1972 near Yachiyodai Station to memorialize those killed in the incident, the militarization of Chiba Prefecture dates to the Russo-Japanese War. Coastal fortifications were built along Tokyo Bay as far south as Tateyama to protect the capital of the Japanese Empire from attack, after the United States took control of Saipan the northern part of the prefecture, most notably the city of Chiba and Chōshi, were firebombed. Much of the north of the prefecture was destroyed. Operation Coronet, one of two parts of Operation Downfall, was the land invasion of Tokyo in March 1946 by the United States
3.
Shingon Buddhism
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For that reason, it is often called Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, or Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism. The word Shingon is the Japanese reading of Chinese, 真言 Zhēnyán True Words, Kūkai returned to Japan as Huiguos lineage- and Dharma-successor. Shingon followers usually refer to Kūkai as Kōbō-Daishi or Odaishi-sama, the name given to him years after his death by Emperor Daigo. Before he went to China, Kūkai had been an independent monk in Japan for over a decade and he was extremely well versed in classical Chinese prose, calligraphy and Buddhist texts. Esoteric Buddhism was not considered to be a different sect or school yet at that time, Huiguo was the first person to gather the still scattered elements of Indian and Chinese Esoteric Buddhism into a cohesive system. When Kūkai was 22, he learned this mantra from Gonsō and he persevered in this mantra practice for seven years and mastered it. According to tradition, this brought him siddhis of superhuman memory retention. Kūkai would later praise the power and efficacy of Kokuzō-Gumonjiho practice, kūkais respect for Ākāśagarbha was so great that he regarded him as his honzon for the rest of his life. It was also during this period of intense mantra practice that Kūkai dreamt of a man telling him to out the Mahavairocana Tantra for the doctrine that he sought. The Mahavairocana Tantra had only recently made available in Japan. He was able to obtain a copy in Chinese but large portions were in Sanskrit in the Siddhaṃ script, which he did not know, and even the Chinese portions were too arcane for him to understand. He believed that teaching was a door to the truth he sought. Thus, Kūkai resolved to travel to China to spend the necessary to fully understand the Mahavairocana Tantra. When Kūkai reached China and first met Huiguo on the month of 805, Huiguo was age sixty. Huiguo exclaimed to Kūkai in Chinese, At last, you have come, I have been waiting for you. Quickly, prepare yourself for initiation into the mandalas, Huiguo had foreseen that Esoteric Buddhism would not survive in India and China in the near future and that it was Kukais destiny to see it continue in Japan. In the short space of three months, Huiguo initiated and taught Kūkai everything he knew on the doctrines and practices of the Mandala of the Two Realms as well as mastery of Sanskrit and Chinese. Huiguo declared Kūkai to be his disciple and proclaimed him a Dharma successor
4.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
5.
Narita, Chiba
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Narita is a city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the site of Narita International Airport, the international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area. As of February 1,2016, the city has an population of 131,096. Its total area was 213.84 square kilometres, the area Narita has been inhabited since the Japanese Paleolithic period. Archaeologists have found tools dating to some 30,000 years ago on the site of Narita Airport. Numerous shell middens from the Jōmon period, and hundreds of tumuli from the Kofun period have been found in numerous locations around Narita. Place names in the vicinity of Narita appear in the Nara period Manyōshū, during the Heian period, the area was a center for the revolt of Taira Masakado. During the Edo period, the continued to prosper as part of the tenryō within Shimōsa Province under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, the area was organized as a town under Inba District on April 1,1889, portions of the town were destroyed by Allied air raids in February and May,1945. On March 31,1954, Narita gained city status through merger with the villages of Habu, Nakago, Kuzumi, Toyosumi, Toyama. Growth in the began in earnest in 1966, when Prime Minister Eisaku Sato laid out the plan for Narita International Airport. The development of the airport and accompanying access to central Tokyo led to residential, commercial and industrial development in the city. However, construction of the airport was opposed, and violent demonstrations occurred through the end of the 1960s and early 1970s. On March 27,2006, the towns of Shimofusa and Taiei were merged into Narita, Central Narita is roughly defined as the area between Narita Station, Keisei Narita Station and the Narita-san Temple. The main road in central Narita is Omotesandō, which is lined with about 150 small shops and has extensively renovated in recent years. Narita New Town is a residential area to the west of Narita Station. It has 16,000 homes with a population of 60,000. The area was designed in 1968 based on the new towns surrounding London in the UK, there are also several Urban Renaissance Agency and other government-subsidized housing projects in the area
6.
Acala
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Acala is a dharmapala primarily revered in Vajrayana Buddhism. He is a deity particularly in Shingon traditions of Japan where he is known as Fudō Myō-ō, in Tangmi traditions China, in Nepal and Tibet as Candarosana. He is classed among the Wisdom Kings and preeminent among the Five Wisdom Kings of the Womb Realm, accordingly, his figure occupies an important hierarchical position in the pictorial diagramatic Mandala of the Two Realms. He mirrors Vidyaraja, or king of knowledge in Sanskrit texts of Buddhism, in Japan, Acala is highly venerated in the Shingon Buddhism, Tendai, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism and in Shugendō. Fudō Myō-ō is also highly revered amongst some Yakuza members, who draw on his intense facial expression. Descriptions of his physical appearance derive from such scriptural source as the Mahavairocana Tantra and his face is expressive of extreme wrath, wrinkle-browed, left eye squinted or looking askance, lower teeth biting down the upper lip. He has the physique of a corpulent child and he bears a straight sword in his right hand, and a lariat or noose in his left hand. He is engulfed in flame, and seated on a rock base. Acala is said to be a deity who protects all by burning away all impediments antarāya and defilements. Under this conceptualization, the kings are ranked superior to the dharmapala. Nevertheless, this distinction sometimes fails to be asserted, or the two are treated as synonymous by many commentators, even in clearly Japanese religious contexts. The Sanskrit symbol that represents Acala is hāṃ हां, conventionally transliterated kān, however, it has been confounded with the similar glyph, prompting some commentators to mistakenly identify Acala with other deities. Thus Shingon Buddhist mourners assign Fudō the first seven days of service, the first week is an important observance, but perhaps not as prominently important as the observance of seven times seven days signifying the end of intermediate state. Literature on Shingon Buddhist ritual will explain that such and such Sanskrit seed syllable, or mantra or mudra is attendant to each of the buddhas for each observance period. There is claim that Acala is identifiable with one of the two kings or Niō, or the guardian deities in Japan, but that assertion is not backed by much of the available commentary on the deity. One source which makes this claim explains that the seed syllable हूं hūṃ represents Acala, but Acalas symbol is hāṃ हां as aforementioned and this probably led to the further assertion that Acala was to be identified with the closed-mouthed Nio statue represented by the hūm sound. If Acala were a Nio gate guardian, then by transference he would belong to the class of beings called Vajrapani, however, that is strictly a Japanese interpretation. In commentary on Tibetan art, one encounters many references to the Acala-Vajrapani, Fudo Myo-O, 不動明王 O-Fudo-sama in Japan Ellen Schattschneider Fudo Myoo - In, immortal wishes Shingon Buddhist International Institute Tendai Buddhist Sangha in Denver Colorado
