Multi-storied pagodas in wood and stone, and a gorintō
Pagodas in Japan are called lit. pagoda, sometimes lit. Buddhist pagoda or lit. pagoda, and derive historically from the
Chinese pagoda, itself an interpretation of the Indian
stupa.
Like the
stupa, pagodas were originally used as
reliquaries, but in many cases ended up losing this function.
Pagodas are quintessentially Buddhist and an important component of Japanese Buddhist temple compounds but, because until the
Shinbutsu bunri of 1868, a
Shinto shrine was normally also a Buddhist temple and vice versa, they are not rare at shrines either. The famous Itsukushima Shrine, for example, has one.
After the Meiji Restoration the word
tō, once used exclusively in a religious context, came to mean also "
tower" in the western sense, as for example in Efferu-tō.
Of the Japanese pagoda's many forms, some are built in wood and are collectively known as lit. wood pagoda, but most are carved out of stone (lit. stone pagoda. Wood pagodas are large buildings with either two stories (like the tahōtō, see photo below) or an odd number of stories. Extant wood pagodas with more than two stories have almost always either three stories (and are therefore called lit. three-storeyed pagoda) or five (and are called lit. five-storeyed pagoda. Stone pagodas are nearly always small, usually well below 3 metres, and as a rule offer no usable space. If they have more than one storey, pagodas are called lit. multi-storied pagoda or lit. multi-storied pagoda.
A pagoda's size is measured in ken, where a ken is the interval between two pillars of a traditional-style building. A tahōtō for example can be either 5x5 ken or 3x3 ken.
History
, Ikaruga,
Nara Prefecture It was built in 706.|thumb|160 px]]The
stupa was originally a simple mound containing the
Buddha's ashes which in time became more elaborate, while its finial grew proportionally larger.
[Jaanus, Tou] After reaching China, the stupa met the Chinese watchtower and evolved into the pagoda, a tower with an odd number of stories.
[Odd numbers are strongly favoured by Chinese numerology and Buddhism. They are supposed to represent yang, that is, the male and positive principle, and are therefore considered lucky.] Its use then spread to Korea and, from there, to Japan. Following its arrival in Japan together with
Buddhism in the 6th century, the pagoda became one of the focal points of the early Japanese
garan.
[Temple compound, ideally composed of seven buildings.] In Japan it evolved in shape, size and function, finally losing its original role as a reliquary.
It also became extremely common, while on the Asian continent it is rare.
[Scheid, Japanische Pagoden]
With the birth of new sects in later centuries, the pagoda lost importance and was consequently relegated to the margins of the garan. Temples of the Jōdo sects rarely have a pagoda.
Pagodas originally were reliquaries and did not contain sacred images, but in Japan many, for example Hōryū-ji's five-storied pagoda, enshrine statues of various deities.
Design and structure evolution
The edge of a pagoda's
eaves forms a straight line, with each following edge being shorter than the other. The more difference in length (a parameter called gradual diminution in Japanese) between stories, the more solid and secure the pagoda seems to be. Both
teigen and the
finial are greater in older pagodas, giving them a sense of solidity.
Vice versa, recent pagodas tend to be steeper and have shorter finials, creating svelter silhouettes.
From the structural point of view, old pagodas had a shinso over which stood the shinbashira. Around it would be erected the first storey's supporting pillars, then the beams supporting the eaves and so on. The other stories would be built over the completed one, and on top of the main pillar would at last be inserted the finial.
Early pagodas had a central pillar that penetrated deep into the ground. With the evolution of architectural techniques, it was first put to rest on a base stone at ground level, then it was shortened and put to rest on beams at the second storey to allow the opening of a room.
Their role within the temple declined gradually while they were being functionally replaced by main halls ( kondō). Originally the centerpiece of the Shingon and Tendai garan, they were moved later to its edges and finally abandoned, in particular by the Zen sects, the last to appear in Japan.
Loss of importance of the pagoda within the garan
Because of the relics they contained, wooden pagodas used to be the centerpiece of the
garan, the seven edifices considered indispensable for a temple.
[*] They gradually lost importance and were replaced by the
kondō (golden hall), because of the magic powers believed to lie within the images the building housed. This loss of status was so complete that Zen schools, which arrived late in Japan from China, normally do not have any pagoda in their
garan. The layout of four early temples clearly illustrates this trend: they are in chronological order
Asuka-dera, Shitennō-ji, Hōryū-ji, and
Yakushi-ji.
In the first, the pagoda was at the very center of the
garan surrounded by three small
kondō (see the reconstruction of the temple's original layout). In the second, a single
kondō is at the center of the temple and the pagoda lies in front of it. At Hōryū-ji, they are one next to the other. Yakushi-ji has a single, large
kondō at the center with two pagodas on the sides. The same evolution can be observed in Buddhist temples in China.
Stone pagodas
Stone pagodas (
sekitō) are usually made of materials like
apatite or
granite, are much smaller than wooden ones and are finely carved.
Often they bear
sanskrit inscriptions, Buddhist figurines and Japanese lunar calendar dates
nengō. Like wooden ones, they are mostly classifiable on the basis of the number of stories as
tasōtō or
hōtō, but there are however some styles hardly ever seen in wood, namely the
gorintō, the
muhōtō, the
hōkyōintō and the
kasatōba.
[JAANUS, Sekitou]
Tasōtō or tajūtō
With a few very rare exceptions,
tasōtō (also called
tajūtō, 多層塔) have an odd number of stories, normally comprised between three and thirteen.
[JAANUS, Tasoutou] They are usually less than three meters tall, but they can occasionally be much taller. The tallest still extant is a 13-storey pagoda at
Hannya-ji in Nara, which is 14.12 m. They are often dedicated to Buddha and offer no usable room, but some have a small space inside which holds a sacred image.
In the oldest extant specimen, while the edge of each storey are parallel to the ground, each successive storey is smaller than the next, resulting in a strongly slanted curve. More modern
tasōtō tend to have a less pronounced curve.
Hōtō
A lit. jewel stupa is a pagoda consisting of four parts: a low foundation stone, a cylindrical body with a rounded top, a four-sided roof and a
finial.
Unlike the similar
tahōtō (see section below) it has no enclosed pent roof (
mokoshi) around its circular core.
Like the
tahōtō it takes its name from Buddhist deity
Tahō Nyorai. The
hōtō was born during the early
Heian period, when the
Tendai and
Shingon sects first arrived in Japan. Indeed, because it does not exist on the Asian continent, it is believed to have been invented in Japan.
There used to exist full-size hōtō, but almost only miniature ones survive, normally made of stone and/or metal.[JAANUS, Houtou]
Gorintō
lit. five ring tower is a pagoda found almost only in Japan and believed to have been first adopted by the Shingon and Tendai sects during the mid Heian period.[JAANUS - Gorintou] It is used as a tomb marker or as a cenotaph, and is therefore a common sight in Buddhist temples and cemeteries. It is also called 五輪卒塔婆 ("five-ringed stupa") or 五輪解脱, where the term sotoba is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word stupa.
In all its variations, the gorintō is made of five blocks (although that number can sometimes be difficult to detect), each having one of the five shapes which symbolize of the Five Elements believed to be the basic building blocks of reality: earth (cube), water (sphere), fire (pyramid), air (crescent), and ether, energy, or void (lotus).
Hōkyōintō
宝篋印塔 is a large stone pagoda so called because it originally contained the 宝篋印 陀羅尼 sūtra.
[Iwanami Kōjien Japanese dictionary] It was originally used as a cenotaph for the King of Wuyue -
Qian Liu in China.
The hōkyōintō tradition in Japan is believed to have begun during the Asuka period (550–710 CE).[Yatsushiro Municipal Museum]
Muhōtō or rantō
The lit. no stitch tower or lit. egg tower is a pagoda which usually marks the gravesite of a Buddhist priest. It was originally used by just the Zen schools, but it was later adopted by the others too.
[JAANUS - Muhoutou] Its characteristic egg-shaped upper portion is supposed to be a
phallic symbol.
Kasatōba
A umbrella stupa (see photo in the gallery below) is simply a square stone post placed over a square base and covered by a pyramidal roof. Over the roof stand a bowl-shaped stone and a lotus-shaped stone. The shaft can be carved with Sanskrit words or low-relief images of Buddhist gods. Within the shaft there can be stone wheels which allow the faithful to turn the stupa around while praying as with a
prayer wheel.
[JAANUS - Kasatouba]
Sōrintō
The 相輪橖 is a type of small pagoda consisting just of a pole and a
sōrin.
Wooden pagodas
Tasōtō
tasōtō are pagodas with an odd number of stories. Some may appear to have an even number because of the presence between stories of purely decorative enclosed pent roofs called
mokoshi[Besides being decorative in themselves,they are also used also to hide structural components which would otherwise mar the pagoda's feel.] A famous example is
Yakushi-ji's eastern pagoda (see photo to the left), which seems to have six stories but has in fact only three. Another is the
tahōtō (see below), which has a single storey, plus a
mokoshi under its roof, and seems therefore to have two stories.
[On the subject, see also the articles Hisashi, Mokoshi and Moya.] There existed specimen with seven or nine stories, but all extant ones have either three (and are therefore called lit. three-storied pagoda) or five (and are called lit. five-storied pagoda.
（Tanzan Jinja in Sakurai, Nara, has a pagoda having thirteen, which however for structural reasons is classified separately, and is not considered a
tasōtō.)
The oldest three-storied pagoda stands at Nara's
Hokki-ji and was built between 685 and 706.
The oldest extant five-storied pagoda belongs to Hōryū-ji and was built some time during the
Asuka period (538–710). The tallest wooden
tasōtō belongs to Tō-ji, Kyoto. It has five stories and is 54 m tall.
Hōtō
wooden
hōtō is a rare type of pagoda consisting of four parts: a low foundation stone, a cylindrical body with a rounded top, a pyramidal roof and a
finial.
Unlike the similar
tahōtō (see section below) it has no square enclosed pent roof (
mokoshi) around its cylindrical core.
Like the
tahōtō it takes its name from Buddhist deity
Tahō Nyorai. The
hōtō was born during the early
Heian period, when the
Tendai and
Shingon Buddhist sects first arrived in Japan.
There used to be many full-size hōtō, but almost only miniature ones survive, normally made of stone and/or metal. A good example of full-size hōtō can be seen at Ikegami Honmon-ji in Nishi-magome, Tokyo. The pagoda is 17.4 meter tall and 5.7 meter wide.
Tahōtō
tahōtō is a type of wooden pagoda unique for having an even number of stories (two), the first square with a rounded core, the second circular. This style of
tō was created surrounding the cylindrical base of a
hōtō (see above) with a square, roofed corridor called
mokoshi.
[For reasons of space, however, the wall separating the mokoshi from the core of the pagoda is present only in large tahōtō called daitō (see the next section).] The core of the pagoda has just one storey with its ceiling below the circular second storey, which is inaccessible. Like the
tasōtō and the
rōmon, in spite of its appearance it therefore offers usable space only at the ground floor.
Because its kind does not exist either in Korea or in China, it is believed to have been invented in Japan during the Heian period (794–1185). The tahōtō was important enough to be considered one of the seven indispensable buildings (the so-called shichidō garan) of a Shingon temple.[JAANUS, Daitou] Kūkai himself is responsible for the construction of the tahōto at Mount Kōya's Kongōbu-ji.
Daitō
the base of a
tahōtō is 3-
ken across with four main, supporting pillars called 四天柱 at the corners (see drawing).
The room the
shitenbashira form houses a sanctuary where the main objects of worship (the
gohonzon) are enshrined.
Larger, 5x5 ken tahōtō however exist and are called lit. large pagoda because of their dimensions. This is the only type of tahōtō to retain the original structure with a wall separating the corridor ( mokoshi) from the core of the structure. This type of pagoda used to be common but, of all daitō ever built, only three are still extant. One is at Wakayama prefecture's Negoro-ji, another at Kongōbu-ji, again in Wakayama, and the last at Kirihata-dera, Tokushima prefecture.
Sotōba
Often offertory strips of wood with five subdivisions and covered with elaborate inscriptions called 卒塔婆 can be found at tombs in Japanese cemeteries (see photo in the gallery below).
The inscriptions contain sūtra and the posthumous name of the dead person. Their name derives from the Sanskrit stūpa, and they can be also considered pagodas.
Gallery of pagodas in Japan
File:Hokokubyou 17.jpg|A gorintō
File:Mizumadera hokyointo.jpg|A hōkyōintō
File:Ashikaga Mochiujis Houtou.jpg|A hōtō
File:Ankokuronji-Garden.jpg|A stone tasōtō
File:Hannyaji Stone Kasatoba.jpg|Two kasatōba at Hannya-ji, Nara
File:Ichijoji Kasai13bs4272.jpg|Ichijō-ji's sanjū-no-tō (three storied pagoda). It was built in 1171.
File:Murou-ji 4.jpg|Murō-ji's gojū-no-tō (five storied pagoda). It was built in 800.
File:20100723 Miyajima Itsukushima 5140.jpg|A pagoda at a Shinto shrine, Itsukushima Shrine
File:Sotoba.jpg|A sotōba. Clearly visible is the division in five sections
File:Hitsujisaki_jinja_Sourintou.JPG|A sorintō
See also
Notes
Bibliography
-
Iwanami 広辞苑 Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version
-
-
Shinkō no Katachi - Hōkyōintō , Yatsushiro Municipal Museum, accessed on September 18, 2008 (in Japanese)
