Daitoku-ji
Daitoku-ji Temple (the Temple of Great Virtue) is the head temple of the Rinzai (Rinzai-shū) Sect of Buddhism.
Daitoku-ji began as a small monastery founded in 1315 or 1319 by the monk Shūhō Myōchō (also pronounced Sōhō Myōchō; 1282–1337). At that time Zen temples were set up at various geographic areas in Kyoto. In the northwest was Daitoku-ji. In the southeast was Tōfuku-ji and Myoshin-ji. In the east was Nanzen-ji, the main temple of the Rinzai-shū Nanzen-ji Sect founded by Eisai in 1291 and set up as a large monastery.
The Rinzai-shū sect was founded by Eisai in the Kamakura Period (1180-1333). During the Kamakura period the Hōjō family, who acted as regents for the shogun, was very powerful. Eisai was supported by Hōjō Masako and thus was successful. Rinzai continued to grow during the Muromachi Period (1333-1600) because it was favored by the Ashikaga shoguns.
After the Ōnin War (1467-1477), Kyoto lay in ruins and that included Daitoku-ji. Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado asked the eccentric monk, Ikkyū Sojun to help restore Daitoku-ji. Ikkyū was the son of Emperor Go-Komatsu and an unknown court lady. Ikkyū seemed at first to be an odd choice, for contrary to Zen teachings, he took lovers (and frequented prostitutes), drank sake, and ate fish. Aside from that he was an accomplished artist, calligrapher, and writer, and also it turned out, a pretty good administrator. Ikkyū was an admirer of the founder and wished for Daitoku-ji’s preservation. He went about his tasks passionately, bullying local merchants to contribute money, and believed he was single handedly preserving Rinzai. His efforts succeeded.
Two of the most prominent men of the late 16th century are associated with Daitoku-ji – Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Sen no Rikyū. Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) was the military commander who united all of Japan. Sen-no-Rikyū (1522-1591) was the highest authority on chadō, the Way of Tea, in the Momoyama Era and the tea master for Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He established a new, highly artistic style of tea ceremony called wabicha.
Hideyoshi and Rikyū are noted for hosting the Great Tea Party at Kitano Tenman-gū Shrine during happier days of their relationship. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi became displeased with Rikyū because Rikyū had a statue of himself in the likeness of Buddha erected on the kimmōkaku (main gate) of Daitoku-ji. Hideyoshi could not permit a subject to exalt himself in this way. Under orders from Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Sen no Rikyū committed seppuku in the tea ceremony room called Kan’in-seki and his tomb is in the grounds of the sub-temple Jukō-in.
Daitoku-ji has a connection with many of the leading military commanders of Japan during the 16th century. Toyotomi Hideyoshi conducted the funeral of Oda Nobunaga, one of the three unifiers of Japan, at Daitoku-ji in 1582 and afterwards many tatchu (minor temple buildings) were built in memory of deceased military commanders.
Most of the present buildings date from the 16th century.
Shinju-an. Shinju-an is a hermitage built by Ikkyū. It contains famous fusuma-é, which are paintings on a sliding door, priceless paintings from the Tosa school, dating from the Muromachi Era to the Momoyama Era.
Jukō-in contains Japanese monochrome painting (suiboku-ga) painted by Kanō Shōei and his son Eitoku, two of the top artists of the Muromachi Era. Kanō Eitoku (1443-1590) was the grandson of Kanō Masanobu (1434?-1530?) who established the Kanō school. Eitoku injected vitality into the Kanō school and was first to use extensive gold leaf. The only large-scale paintings of Eitoku to survive are at Jukō-in where in 1566 he worked on a series of wall panels, Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons.
Jiko-in has Sen no Rikyū’s tomb and Kan’in-seki, the tea ceremony room.
Kōtō-in has the tomb of Hosokawa Tadaoki and his wife Garacia.
Hosokawa Tadaoki (1563-1645) was one of Oda Nobunaga’s generals. He was a lover of arts. His wife Garacia was a Christian. Regarded as an enemy during the wars for control of Japan, she committed suicide. Grieving over her death, Tadaoki entered the priesthood.