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多宝富士大日蓮華山 大石寺, more commonly just 総本山大石寺, informally known as , is the administrative center of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. It is located in the foothills of Mount Fuji in Kamijo, Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.Nichiren Shoshu Temple. “Taisekiji” Nichiren Shoshu Basics of Practice, NST, 2003, pp. 127–128.Brannen, Noah. "A Visit to Taisekiji, Head Temple of Soka Gakkai." Contemporary Religions in Japan (1961): 13–29. Taiseki-ji was founded in 1290 by Nikkō Shōnin, one of Nichiren Daishonin's senior disciples, on a land parcel donated by the pious believer Daigyo Sonrei, commonly known as Nanjo Tokimitsu (1259–1332).Nichiren Shoshu Temple. “Taisekiji” Nichiren Shoshu Basics of Practice, NST, 2003, pp. 127–128.
The Head Temple is the home of the Dai Gohonzon, Nichiren Shoshu's object of worship, which draws pilgrim believers from various countries. The temple's open grounds are open to the public for sightseeing, though its religious buildings are restricted only to registered believers.Nichiren Shoshu Temple. "Taisekiji" Nichiren Shoshu Basics of Practice, NST, 2003, pp. 127–128. Accordingly, adherents of the Soka Gakkai are not permitted entrance to the Head Temple grounds.
Taiseki-ji is the home of the Dai Gohonzon, Nichiren Shoshu's object of worship.Nichiren Shoshu Temple. “Dai-Gohonzon” Nichiren Shoshu Basics of Practice, NST, 2003, p. 124.Nichiren Shoshu Temple. “Taisekiji” Nichiren Shoshu Basics of Practice, NST, 2003, pp. 127–128. This image is visited by believers who come on personal pilgrimages, to participate in regular ceremonies, or to take part in large events such as study programs, and similar large meetings.Nichiren Shoshu Temple. “Taisekiji” Nichiren Shoshu Basics of Practice, NST, 2003, pp. 127–128. The temple is known for numerous historically significant buildings and gardens, national cultural assets, as well as features like the old weeping cherry trees that line its Tatchū Sando (main path lined with lodging temples).
Tokimitsu was a lay follower of Nichiren's and consequently Nikko Shonin. Taiseki-ji started with one small temple building, the Mutsubo with six rooms, but grew gradually as Nikkō's disciples built sub-temples. It went through further growth phases during the mid-Edo period and after the Second World War.
According to Nichiren Shoshu doctrine, their religious founder Nichiren willed that the image be established with a national shrine at the foot of Mount Fuji with a special title named "Honmonji" when the conversion of the Japanese Emperor and widespread propagation was achieved.
Due to its strong prohibition against accepting monetary donations from non-believers, there is no offertory box available at the temple. Believers are confirmed to be registered members before they are allowed to give "Gokuyo" or offerings. There is also no Shuin (御朱印帳 or "red stamping" of Daimoku or Talisman booklets normally sold to tourists, considered by the religion to be a form of sacrilege.
In addition, neither the Head Temple nor the religious stores outside Taiseki-ji accept any currency besides Japanese Yen towards any donation offerings, memorial service fees, food and lodging fees or any religious merchandise transactions.
The sect, along with the other Fuji sects in the area, followed the custom of reciting the Sutra chapters according to what Nichiren himself once did:
During the 1930s, the Gongyo service was shortened to a single format, initiated by religious convert Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and was approved by 57th High Priest Nissho Shonin. Today, some Nichiren sects in the Mount Fuji area recite the full versions of the 2nd and 16th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
The current version of Gongyo since the 1930s is the recitations of Chapter 2 in prose and Chapter 16 in prose and verse along with the five morning and three evening silent prayers (五座三座, Goza-Sanza) for the purpose of the following:
Additional services such as funeral, prolonged chanting (Shodai) and other commemoration ceremonies for historical personalities associated with the Head Temple are also conducted.
The Kyakuden was rebuilt as the 大客殿 "Grand Reception Hall", with the assistance of the Soka Gakkai, a modern-style building inaugurated April 1964. That structure, was demolished in September 1995 and rebuilt as the current Kyakuden in 1998 with its wood-clad steel-framed edifice. The priesthood cited the Dai-Kyakuden's imposing ferroconcrete mass as incongruent with the architectural tone appropriate for a temple compound.
The Kyakuden is the site of Ushitora Gongyo, a daylight prayer service officiated by the High Priest or his proxy. The Ozagawari Joza Gohonzon, original paper on 13 October 1290 ("Gohonzon of the Seat of the Dharma") was rendered into wood and carved on 15 June 1706, now enshrined on the central altar on the second floor of the Kyakuden.
This 1706 wooden mandala is flanked by lifesize statues of Nichiren Daishonin (left) and Nikkō Shōnin (right) as a symbolic representation of “San—Po” or “Three Treasures style”, though the “Object of Worship” remains the central mandala. The two grand statues were carved in 1660 during the reign of 17th High Priest Nissei Shonin.
Several rounds of expansions, improvements, and repairs have been undertaken since then, and it was designated a prefectural tangible cultural property by Shizuoka Prefecture after major repairs in 1971. The most recent overhaul was finished in November 2013. The seven-year project entailed completely breaking down and reassembling the building piece by piece. All the parts were catalogued, mapped, and their condition recorded. Damaged structural members were repaired or replaced, and decorative fixtures such as transom carvings and other artwork, were painstaking restored. When the building was reassembled, aseismic structural augmentation (dampers) was installed to protect it from earthquake damage. New gold leaf was applied to the indoor pillars, and all exposed surfaces were finished with vermilion using traditional methods. Nichiren Shōshū Nyūmon (日蓮正宗入門: "Introduction to Nichiren Shoshu"), p. 337. Taiseki-ji Information, Taisekiji, 1992; p. 17日蓮正宗総本山御影堂―寛永の再建から平成の大改修まで: "The Nichiren Shosho Head-temple Image Hall: From its Kan'ei-period reconstruction to its Heisei-period restoration", Dainichiren Publishing, 2016 (source for dates, name derivation, content of 2006–13 renovations) The building is known for its decorative transoms that depict various Buddhist deities that are believed to occupy the Treasure Tower of the Lotus Sutra.
A decorative [[Stupa]] is erected nearby the Mieido to commemorate the donations of Lady Manhime Ogasawara remains present to this day.
On the high altar, the Shumidan, of the Hōandō is a Buddhist Stupa containing the ashes of Nichiren Daishonin (left), a grand Butsudan housing the Dai Gohonzon (center), and another stupa containing a statue of Nichiren Daishonin carved by Izumi Ajari Nippō Shōnin from the same camphorwood leftover plank that the Dai Gohonzon was inscribed on; while pious tradition claims that Nichiren approvingly characterized the statue as an exact image of himself.
Taiseki-ji has traditionally regarded the Mieidō (see above) as the temple's Hondō (main hall), but only its provisional main hall until wide propagation is achieved, when the building housing the Dai Gohonzon would take over that role.
The Hōandō replaced the controversial name of the Shōhondō (正本堂: true main hall), after its demolition in April 1998. (See below for details on demolished buildings)
In addition, it also features modest displays of cultural objects donated by pilgrims from countries where they have attracted converts. The Hōanden (奉安殿) building, where the Dai Gohonzon was once enshrined, stands behind it.
It has five stories representing the characters of 妙法蓮華經 (English: “Myo-Ho-Ren-Ge-Kyo”) measuring at 112 feet and faces west rather than the usual south, with a claim that Nichiren's Buddhism would spread from the East (Japan) to the Western lands; that is, back to the land of Shakyamuni Buddha and to the rest of the world.
This pagoda is the largest five-storied pagoda along the Tōkaidō, the historical main highway along Japan's eastern seaboard from Edo (today's Tokyo) to Kyoto. A Gohonzon transcribed by 31st High Priest Nichi-in Shonin is enshrined within, dated to 28 March 1749.
In 1966, the pagoda was designated a national cultural treasure. In 2017, it was structurally reinforced and artistically restored. Its doors are ceremoniously opened once each year on February 16 to celebrate Nichiren's birthday for the “O-tanjo ceremony”, followed by the formal opening of its doors called the “O-tobiraki ceremony”.
A wooden transcription image of this Gohonzon was carved and signed by Taisekiji priest-sculptor named “Eritsu Hiki Bhikkhu” (Claimed to be Mr. Takeshi Itamoto) in January 1687 (Jōkyō year IV) assumingly in commemoration for the new incoming 30th High Priest Nitchu Shonin.
Upon the completion of this grand auditorium in 1958, the 65th High Priest Nichijun Shonin decided to enshrine this wooden Gohonzon within this building where it remains today. Presently, this Gohonzon is flanked by the two Ihai memorial tablets of second High Priest Nikkō Shonin and his successor, third High Priest Nichimoku as an expressed style aesthetic that both disciples were once able to listen to Nichiren's preaching in correlation to the purpose of the building as an Auditorium. It is in a dilapidated condition and scheduled for demolition and reconstruction after completion of the new Sanmon gate in 2021.
The former highest lay leader of Hokkeko believers ( Hokkeko Sokoto), Jōsei Toda addressed youth adherents from this building on 16 March 1958.
Religious professor Daniel A. Métraux claims that the Soka Gakkai placed particular importance on the building of the Shohondo, based on interpretations of doctrine not shared by the Nichiren Shoshu sect as a whole, and therefore controversy over its status arose at its construction.
The Shōhondō was inaugurated by the Soka Gakkai who claimed it as the "True High Sanctuary", Kaidan, which was a title disputed by conservative groups within the sect including the Myoshinko (now known as Kenshōkai) lay organisation, and the Nichiren Shoshu Priesthood. In Nichiren Shoshu doctrine, that sanctuary title was allegedly reserved for a future temple to be built at the base of Mount Fuji on the completion of Kosen Rufu, as solely decreed by the Emperor of Japan when the entire nation has converted to Nichiren's Buddhism.
Métraux explained that the Soka Gakkai was reinterpreting doctrine and maintained that they could consider the Shōhondō as the "True High Sanctuary", Kaidan, about which Nichiren wrote, because through the Soka Gakkai Nichiren's philosophy was spread through Japan and was positively impacting people. The importance of the Shohondo was, therefore, a highly contentious matter dividing the Soka Gakkai and other factions within the faith.
High Priest Nittatsu Hosoi, clarified that the Shōhondō was not the True High Sanctuary about which Nichiren wrote, though directed the Shōhondō as a temporary home for the Dai-Gohonzon, the permanent home of the Dai-Gohonzon would be the future True High Sanctuary.
The construction of the Shōhondō was funded largely by donations from lay believers of Nichiren Shoshu. In 1968, approximately 8 million Soka Gakkai adherents contributed money to the construction. (1969). 9780834800403, Weatherhill. ISBN 9780834800403 An estimated grand total of ¥35,536,000,000 was raised:
The building was demolished in 1998, the official reason given by Nichiren Shoshu for the demolition was the discovery of rust on the pillars within the temple. Engineers discovered that ocean sand had been used in the mortar of the building, risking the Dai Gohonzon's safety during an earthquake. The school also concedes that its demolition of the Shōhondō was an extension of the doctrinal dispute between it and Sōka Gakkai, emphasizing the impiety of the organisation as for deviating from its formal doctrines of orthodoxy.Sōka Gakkai-in e no shakubuku kyōhon (Text for refuting Soka Gakkai's misrepresentations to its adherents), Taiseki-ji, 2004. pp. 330–331.
American architects Richard Meier and Robert Arthur Stern both disparaged the demolition. Terence Riley, former chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York opined that the planned demolition would be a "regrettable finale" to a century that has "witnessed so much loss". This article is also referenced in Jane Hurst, "A Buddhist Reformation", in Global Citizens: The Soka Gakkai Buddhist Movement in the World eds. David W. Machacek, Bryan R. Wilson, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 70
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