Stūpa (English spelling)

Japanese: ストゥーパ（英語表記）stūpa

From Sanskrit, originally meaning something that becomes high and conspicuous due to the accumulation of things. (1) A round mound of earth in ancient India. (2) A hemispherical structure or a modified and developed form of a stupa in which the remains (or hair, possessions, etc.) of Buddha (or an arhat, etc.) are buried and are venerated by Buddhists. Usually used in the sense of (2). The words sotoba, sotoba, sotoba, stupa, and tower in China and Japan also originate from stupa. According to legend, after the death of Buddha, eight stupas were built from his cremated remains (relics), which were excavated and further divided during the reign of King Ashoka, resulting in the construction of 84,000 stupas. The early stupas, like the Sanchi Stupa (2nd to 1st century BCE), were basically made up of a circular base with a hemispherical bowl, a box-shaped flat top, and a parasol. The outside of the base was surrounded by a balustrade and a tower gate on each side, and the base, balustrade, and tower gate were decorated with figurative carvings of Jataka poems. It was customary for worshippers to walk around the balustrade in the same direction as the sun (clockwise). Stupas ranged in size from 40-50 meters in diameter to less than 1 meter in diameter, and some were built outdoors, inside halls, or inside caves. Over time, the bowl design relatively declined, while the base, flat top, and parasol developed into more complex shapes. As Buddhism spread throughout Asia, a variety of distinctive stupas were created based on the stupa model, such as the dargahs in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), pagodas in Myanmar (Burma) and Indochina, lama towers in Tibet, and multi-storey towers (three-, five- and seven-storey towers) in China, Korea and Japan. In addition to Buddhists, Jains also built stupas to enshrine the bones or relics of saints, though in small numbers.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

サンスクリット語で本来，ものが堆積して高くなり目立つ意味。 (1) 古代インドの丸く土を盛上げた墳墓。 (2) 仏陀 (あるいは阿羅漢など) の遺骨 (あるいは髪，持物など) を埋納し，仏教徒たちが尊崇の対象とした半球形，またそれが変化発展した形の建造物，すなわち仏塔。通常は (2) の意味に用いる。中国，日本などの卒塔婆 (そとば，そとうば) または卒都婆 (そとば) ，塔婆，塔という語もストゥーパに由来する。伝説によると仏陀の入滅後，火葬骨 (仏舎利) が分割されて8基の仏塔が建てられ，アショーカ王の時代にこれが発掘，再分割されて8万 4000基の仏塔が建てられたという。初期のストゥーパは，サーンチー大塔 (前2～1世紀) のように，円形平面の基壇の上に半球形の覆鉢を築き，頂部に箱形の平頭 (へいとう，ひょうず) を載せ，傘蓋 (さんがい) を立てるのが原則であった。基壇の外側には繞道 (にょうどう) をへだてて欄楯 (らんじゅん。玉垣) をめぐらし，四方に塔門を開き，基壇，欄楯，塔門などにジャータカなどを内容とする具象的な彫刻を施す。参詣者は繞道を太陽と同じ方向 (右回り) にめぐるのがならわしである。ストゥーパの規模は直径 40～50mから 1mに満たないものまであり，戸外のほか堂内や石窟内に設けるものもあった。時代が下ると覆鉢が相対的に退化し基壇，平頭，傘蓋が複雑な形に発達した。一方，仏教がアジア各地へ伝播するにつれて，このようなストゥーパを祖形としながら特色のある多様な仏塔が生み出された。スリランカ (セイロン) におけるダーガバ，ミャンマー (ビルマ) やインドシナにおけるパゴダ，チベットにおけるラマ塔，中国，朝鮮，日本における層塔 (三・五・七重塔) などがそれである。仏教徒のほかジャイナ教徒も，少数ではあるが聖者の遺骨や遺物を祀るストゥーパを建てた。

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