三十三間堂と1,001体の観音
万華鏡 Mangekyo, Japan through history.
On this show, we explore Japan's famous placesthrough the lens of history and uncover the
stories most people never hear.
By the end of each episode, I hope you'll wannalearn more and see these places in a
whole new way.
I'm your host, Taiki Arai.
Today, we are visiting Sanjusangen-do, a Buddhisttemple in Kyoto.
It's about a 20-minute walk east of Kyoto Stationfor a short bus ride.
The bus stop is right in front of the temple, soit's an easy place to visit on your first
or last day in Kyoto.
The temple is famous for its length.
The main hall is about 120 meters long.
It's said to be one of the longest woodenbuildings in the world.
And inside that long hall, row after row, standgolden statues of Kannon.
So here's a question.
How many statues do you think there are?
The answer is 1,001, and every single one of themis a national treasure of Japan.
So who placed so many statues here, and why?
The key to that mystery is a man called GoShirakawa.
Today, he's the star of our story, and he'll takeus back to the very end of the Heian
period.
天皇・上皇と院政
Before we meet Go Shirakawa, let's sort out threetitles.
First, the Tenno, or emperor, the person who iscurrently on the throne.
Second, the Jōkō, or retired emperor, an emperorwho has stepped down and passed the
throne to the next emperor.
And third, the Ōwō, a retired emperor who has alsobecome a Buddhist monk.
You may remember that in 2019, the Heisei emperorstepped down and became a retired emperor.
It was the first time in about 200 years.
Now you might think a retired emperor would stayout of politics.
But at the end of the Heian period, the oppositehappened.
Retired emperors often held more power than theemperor on the throne.
This system is called Insei, or rule by retiredemperors.
Why?
Because a reigning emperor was tied down byceremonies, old rules, and powerful aristocrats
like the Fujiwara family.
But once he retired, he was free from all that.
He could put his son or grandson on the throne andrule from behind the scenes.
It's a bit like a company founder who steps downas CEO but keeps running the company
as chairman.
This system began in 1086, and one of the men whoused it for the longest time in the
most turbulent era was Go Shirakawa.
後白河上皇と平清盛
Go Shirakawa was born in 1127.
At first, he wasn't expected to become emperor atall.
He was said to be more interested in Imaiyo, thepopular songs of the day, than in politics.
But because of family circumstances, heunexpectedly became emperor in 1155.
The next year, in 1156, a conflict broke outcalled the Hogen Rebellion.
The imperial family and the aristocrats split intotwo sides.
Go Shirakawa won, with the help of samuraiwarriors, including a man named Taira no Kiyomori.
This was a turning point.
Until then, samurai were like bodyguards workingfor the nobles.
They had started as armed landowners in thecountryside, protecting their land where the
court's power didn't reach.
When rebellions broke out, the court relied onthem to fight.
Over time, these warriors gathered under two greatclans, the Taira and the Minamoto.
But now it was clear.
Without samurai, you couldn't win a politicalfight.
In 1158, after only about three years, GoShirakawa stepped down and became a retiredemperor.
And that's when his real career began.
For more than 30 years, he ruled from behind thethrone.
His base was a huge palace complex in easternKyoto called Hojujidono.
And Sanjusangendo was actually built inside thegrounds of this palace.
The money for it came from Taira no Kiyomori, theleader of the imperial family and the
leader of the samurai working together.
Sanjusangendo is a symbol of that partnership.
In 1169, Go Shirakawa became a monk.
A fool.
But even as a monk, he never left politics.
However, the partnership didn't last.
Kiyomori and his Taira clan grew more and morepowerful.
And in 1179, Kiyomori actually placed Go Shirakawaunder house arrest.
The samurai he had helped to rise had turnedagainst him.
Then everything changed quickly.
The Minamoto clan rose up against the Taira andthe Genpei war began.
Kiyomori died in 1181 and the Taira clan wasdestroyed in 1185.
Through all this chaos, Go Shirakawa survived.
Sometimes he sided with the Taira, sometimes withthe Minamoto,
playing the warriors against each other to protectthe imperial family's power.
Because of his skill at this game, Minamoto noYoritomo,
who later founded the Kamakura Shogunate,
is said to have called him the greatest Tengu inJapan.
A Tengu is a tricky mountain goblin.
At the same time, he never lost his love of music.
He even compiled a collection of Imayo songs.
He was a master of political games and also alover of culture.
Go Shirakawa died in 1192 and that same year,Yoritomo became shogun.
His death marked the end of the age of aristocrats
and the beginning of the age of the samurai.
建立、火災、再建
Now, back to Sanjū Sangen-dō itself.
It was built in 1164 when Go Shirakawa andKiyomori were getting along best.
Go Shirakawa had it built as a place to pray toKannon.
By the way, Sanjū Sangen-dō is actually anickname.
The official name is Rengeōin.
About 80 years later, in 1249, the hall burneddown in a fire.
But 124 statues of Kannon were carried out of theflames.
Those 124 statues are still there today.
So, some of the statues you see were made in GoShirakawa's own time in the Heian period.
In 1266, the hall was rebuilt.
The building you see today is from that time.
New statues were made to replace the lost ones
and together with the 124 survivors, there wereonce again a thousand.
1,001体と観音の33の姿
And in the center sits one large statue of Kannon,
made by Tankei, one of the great Buddhistsculptors of the Kamakura period.
His father was Unkei, famous for the giantguardian statues at Todai-ji in Nara.
A thousand standing statues plus one seated statuein the center.
That makes 1,001.
So, why so many?
Think back to our last episode at Kiyomizu-dera.
Kannon is a Buddhist figure who hears the cries ofpeople in trouble and comes to help them.
And Kannon is said to take on 33 different forms.
The statues here are thousand-armed Kannon,
a form of Kannon that uses a thousand arms to helpas many people as possible.
And the name Sanjusangendo means the Hall of 33Bays.
A bay is the space between two pillars and thefront of the hall was 33 of them.
That number, 33, comes from the 33 forms ofKannon.
So, everything here, from the shape of thebuilding to the number of statues,
expresses the saving power of Kannon.
But why was Goshirakawa so devoted to Kannon?
There are two reasons.
The first is faith.
In just a few years before this hall was built,
Kyoto saw two major conflicts,
the Hogen Rebellion in 1156 and the HeijiRebellion in 1159.
In such uncertain times,
I think it's natural that people wanted to rely onKannon who would save anyone.
A thousand-armed Kannon times a thousand.
You could say he was asking for the greatestpossible protection.
The second is power.
A 120-meter-old field with more than a thousandstatues.
Only someone at the very top of the country couldcreate something like this.
Sanjusangendo was proof of Goshirakawa's power.
I'm the one who runs this country.
Faith and power.
Put those two together, and you get 1,001 statuesof Kannon.
守護神と通し矢
Kannon isn't alone in this hall.
In front of the 1,001 statues stand 30 life-sizedguardian figures,
28 guardian deities, plus the wind god and thethunder god.
Their job is to protect Kannon.
You could call them Kannon's bodyguards.
The wind god carries a bag full of wind,
and the thunder god beats drums to make thunder.
They are powerful, dramatic figures,
and they appear often in Japanese art,
so you may feel you've seen them somewhere before.
Sanjusangendo also has a surprising side.
It was once a stage for archery contests.
The hall is about 120 meters long.
Archers would sit at one end of the long verandaon the west side
and shoot arrows all the way to the other end.
This is called oshiya.
Because there's a roof over the veranda,
you can't shoot the arrows high.
They have to fly low and straight for 120 meters.
It takes real skill.
In the Edo period, oshiya became hugely popular.
Archers would shoot for a full day and night,
competing to see how many arrows they could getthrough.
It's said that the best archers shot more than 10,000 arrows in a single day.
The tradition lives on.
Every January, archers from all over Japan gatherhere for a big archery event,
shooting at targets about 60 meters away.
参拝の見どころ
Okay, let me tell you three tips.
First, look for the kanron you are meant to meet.
Each of the thousand statues has a slightlydifferent expression,
and it's said that among them, there is always onekanron you are meant to meet.
Walk slowly, look at the faces one by one,
and you might find yourself thinking,
this is the one.
Because there are a thousand of them,
there's one for everyone.
Thinking of it that way,
Goshirakawa's thousand statues feel a little morepersonal.
Please note that photos aren't allowed inside thehall,
so take your time and look with your own eyes.
Second, after you leave the hall,
look for the taiko wall and the south gate.
Taiko is a title for Toyotomi Hideyoshi,
the same Hideyoshi who reshaped Kyoto in our firstepisode
and donated a gate to Fushimi Inari in our second.
He built a giant statue of the Buddha right nextdoor,
and this wall was part of that temple.
We'll talk much more about Hideyoshi later in theKyoto series.
Third, on the east side of Sanjusangendu is thetomb of Goshirakawa.
He still rests right next to the halls he built,
and across the street is the Kyoto NationalMuseum,
if you have more time.
Today, we visited Sanjusangendu.
Goshirakawa ruled Japan for more than 30 yearsafter leaving the throne.
His face in Kannon and the size of his power tookshape as 1,001 statues.
After his death, Minamoto no Yoritomo founded theshogunate in Kamakura
and Japan entered the age of the samurai.
Next time, we jump ahead about 150 years
to a warrior named Ashikaga Takauji who founded anew shogunate.
We'll head west, to Arashiyama.
Why did Takauji build a temple, Tenryuji, for anemperor who had been his enemy?
We'll find out.
Before I go, a quick note.
I also work as a tour guide.
If you're planning a trip to Kyoto or Osaka andwould like me to show you around,
or if you'd just like to share your thoughts onthe show,
please get in touch through the Google form linkedin the episode description.
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If you enjoyed this episode, please follow theshow on your favorite app.
I'm Taiki Arai, and this has been Mangekyo.
See you next time. Goodbye.