Sotoba - Stupa

A transliteration of the Sanskrit word stūpa. It is also written as sotoba, sotoba, sotodoba, etc., and is pronounced as sotoba. It is also abbreviated as toba or to. Originally, it referred to the ancient Indian domanju (covered bowl)-shaped tomb. In China and Japan, it was a necessary structure for temple architecture, and five-story pagodas, three-story pagodas, and multi-story pagodas were built. There are five-tiered stone pagodas, which symbolize the five elements (earth, water, fire, wind, and sky), and itabi, a type of stone pagoda made in the shape of a board. In particular, in early modern Japan, a long, thin board made to pray for the repose of the dead was called a sotoba. It is the same style as a gorinto, with a five-ring shape cut into the top, and it became customary to write certain characters on it and set it up next to the grave. These wooden stupas are called sotoba or stupas, while the actual structures are simply called towers to distinguish them.

[Yoshiaki Ishigami]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

サンスクリット語のストゥーパstūpaの音写。率都婆、卒覩婆、卒堵婆などとも書き、「そとうば」とも読む。また塔婆(とうば)、塔(とう)とも略称する。元来、古代インドの土饅頭(どまんじゅう)（覆鉢(ふくばち)）型の墓をさす。中国、日本では寺院建築上必要な建物で、五重塔、三重塔、多宝塔などが建てられた。五大（地、水、火、風、空）を象徴する5個の石を重ねた五輪塔、石塔の一つで板形にした板碑(いたび)などがある。とくに、日本の近世以降、死者の追善冥福(ついぜんめいふく)を祈るために細長い板でつくったものを卒塔婆とよんだ。その形式は五輪塔と同じように、五輪の形を上部に切り込みを入れてつくった塔婆で、所定の文字を書いて、墓のそばに立てる習慣ができた。この板塔婆を卒塔婆、塔婆とよび、建造物のほうを単に塔とよんで区別している。

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