Kan'ei-ji Temple

Located in Ueno Sakuragi, Taito Ward, Tokyo, at the northern end of Ueno Park, this is the Kanto head temple of the Tendai sect. It is called Toeizan Endon-in. It was founded in 1625 (Kan'ei 2) by the monk Tenkai, who prayed for the protection of Edo Castle and received part of the Ueno plateau from the shogunate. Tenkai was a deep believer in Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hidetada, and Iemitsu, and lived in Kita-in in Kawagoe, Musashi Province (Saitama Prefecture), but when the main temple was completed in Ueno, he moved there and, with imperial permission, named it Toeizan Kan'ei-ji Endon-in. Higashi-eizan was named after Mount Hiei, meaning Mount Hiei of Kanto, Kan'ei-ji was named after the year it was founded, and Endon-in was named after the Entonkai, a Mahayana precept practiced in the Tendai sect. Following the completion of the main temple, the Tokugawa clan and various daimyo each built and donated temple buildings and shrines, and at the time of its founding there were 32 temple buildings and 36 sub-temples. In 1698 (Genroku 11), Tokugawa Tsunayoshi built the Konponchudo, the largest in Edo (now burned down), and Emperor Higashiyama bestowed the imperial seal of "Ruriden" on it. The temple's land gradually increased, and it came to control a vast area of ​​360,000 tsubo (approximately 1,188,000 square meters) in the Shinobu-ga-oka area, and reached the height of its prosperity under the protection of the shogunate.

After Tenkai's death, the second abbot, Kokai Daisojo, and the third abbot, Prince Morizumi, succeeded him. The shogunate had long requested that Prince Morizumi become the abbot of the eastern temple, and in response, Emperor Gomizuno's third son Prince Morizumi (later known as Morizumi) entered the temple in 1647 (Shoho 4). Prince Morizumi became the head priest of Nikkozan Rinnoji in 1654 (Shoo 3), and the following year he also became the head priest of Tendai, and was given the title of Rinnojinomiya, with jurisdiction over the three mountains of Toei, Nikko, and Hiei, and was also known as Kanrei no Miya. After that, the imperial family succeeded Prince Kogen, the 15th abbot, and from then on high-ranking priests of the Tendai sect inherited the lineage and were called Rinnoji Monzeki. The Rinnoji temple headquarters held a temple estate of 11,790 koku, and the site of the current Tokyo National Museum was the former head temple of the Rinnoji Imperial Princes and Princesses.

In 1868 (Keio 4), Ichizan became the base of the Shogitai during the Boshin War, and most of the buildings were burned down. Today, what remains are the Kiyomizu Kannon Hall, the former main temple front gate, the five-story pagoda, the Imperial Plaque Gate of the Joken-in Mausoleum, the Water Basin Pavilion, and other National Important Cultural Properties, as well as the Toshogu Shrine and Shakado Hall (Metropolitan Important Cultural Property). The current main hall was moved from Kita-in during the Meiji period. Within the temple is the Tokugawa family mausoleum, where successive shoguns such as Ietsuna (Genyuin-dono), Tsunayoshi (Joken-in-dono), Yoshimune (Yutoku-in-dono), and Ieharu (Shunmyo-in-dono) and their wives are enshrined. Additionally, part of the Kan'ei-ji Temple Shoin includes the Aoi Room, where Tokugawa Yoshinobu was placed under house arrest after the Meiji Restoration (1867).

The publication of the entire Buddhist scriptures by Tenkai over a period of 12 years from 1637 (Kan'ei 14) was the first complete printing of the Tripitaka in Japan, and is commonly referred to as the Tenkai edition (Kan'ei-ji edition). The temple's treasures, a colored silk painting of the Mandala of the Two Realms, the principal image of Yakushi Nyorai, and the statues of his two attendant attendants, are designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

[Nakayama Kiyota]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

東京都台東(たいとう)区上野桜木、上野公園北端にある、天台宗の関東総本山。東叡山円頓院(とうえいざんえんどんいん)と号する。1625年（寛永2）、天海僧正(てんかいそうじょう)が江戸城鎮護を祈願し、幕府から上野台地の一部を拝領して創立。天海は、徳川家康、秀忠(ひでただ)、家光(いえみつ)に深く帰依(きえ)され、武蔵(むさし)国（埼玉県）川越の喜多院(きたいん)に住していたが、上野に本坊が落成するとともに移り、勅許を得て東叡山寛永寺円頓院と称した。東叡山は比叡山に倣い、関東の叡山という意味から、寛永寺はその創建年号により、円頓院は天台宗で行う大乗戒の円頓戒にちなんで号された。本坊の落成に続き、徳川家一門や諸大名がそれぞれ堂塔神祠(しんし)を建立寄進(こんりゅうきしん)、創建当時は堂塔32、子院36坊を擁した。1698年（元禄11）徳川綱吉(つなよし)は江戸第一の大きさを誇る根本中堂（焼失）を建立、東山(ひがしやま)天皇から「瑠璃殿(るりでん)」の勅額を賜った。寺領もしだいに増し、忍ヶ岡(しのぶがおか)一帯に36万坪（約118万8000平方メートル）の広大な寺域を領し、幕府の保護のもとに隆盛を極めた。

　天海没後は第2世公海(こうかい)大僧正、第3世守澄法親王(もりずみほうしんのう)が継いだ。かねてから幕府は法親王の東下住持を要請、それに応じて1647年（正保4）後水尾(ごみずのお)天皇の第3皇子尊敬法親王（のちに守澄）が入山。法親王は54年（承応3）には日光山輪王寺(りんのうじ)の門主となり、翌年さらに天台座主(ざす)をも兼ね、東叡、日光、比叡の三山を管掌して輪王寺宮の号を賜り、管領(かんれい)の宮ともよばれた。その後、15世公現(こうげん)法親王までは皇族が継ぎ、以後は天台宗の高僧が法統を継承して輪王寺門跡(もんぜき)とよばれた。輪王寺門跡は寺領1万1790石を領し、現在の東京国立博物館の地が輪王寺宮歴代法親王の本坊旧跡である。

　1868年（慶応4）一山は戊辰(ぼしん)戦争における彰義隊の本拠となり、建造物の大半を焼失、現在は清水観音(きよみずかんのん)堂、旧本坊表門、五重塔、常憲(じょうけん)院霊廟(れいびょう)の勅額門、水盤舎(すいばんしゃ)など国重要文化財をはじめ、東照宮、釈迦(しゃか)堂（都重要文化財）などが残る。現在の本堂は明治時代に喜多院から移したものである。寺内には徳川家霊廟があり、家綱(いえつな)（厳有院(げんゆういん)殿）、綱吉（常憲院殿）、吉宗(よしむね)（有徳院殿）、家治(いえはる)（浚明院(しゅんみょういん)殿）など歴代将軍およびその夫人らが祀(まつ)られている。また、寛永寺書院の一部に、大政奉還(たいせいほうかん)（1867）後に徳川慶喜(よしのぶ)が謹慎した「葵(あおい)の間」がある。

　なお、天海が1637年（寛永14）から12年間にわたって成した一切経(いっさいきょう)開板は日本における大蔵経(だいぞうきょう)完刻の初めであり、俗に天海版（寛永寺版）といわれる。寺宝の絹本着色両界曼荼羅(まんだら)図、本尊の薬師(やくし)如来像および両脇侍(きょうじ)像は国重要文化財に指定されている。

［中山清田］

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