Temple of Heaven

Since the Ming Dynasty in China, this is the name of the circular altar where the emperor performed the ritual of worshiping heaven, and also the general name for the entire altar area including its attached facilities. In ancient Confucian ritual theory, according to the idea of ​​the mandate of heaven, only the emperor could worship heaven, and based on the idea of ​​yin and yang, the altar of worshiping heaven was a circular mound placed on the southern outskirts of the national capital. The first such southern suburban altar was placed in 32 BC at the end of the Former Han Dynasty, but it is not until 26 AD, at the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, that a circular altar was confirmed to have been built in the southern outskirts. Since then, the system of worshiping heaven on the southern outskirts or on a circular mound has undergone various modifications and been passed down from the Northern and Southern Dynasties of Wei and Jin through the Sui and Tang dynasties, to the Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The shape of the mound is a stack of flat cylindrical platforms, two in the Liang and Chen dynasties, four in the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties, and three in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. During the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu built the Great Sacrificial Hall on the southern outskirts of Nanjing to worship Heaven and Earth together, and even after Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing, ceremonies at the Great Sacrificial Hall continued in Beijing. Emperor Jiajing built a mound in the southern outskirts in 1530 to worship Heaven and Earth separately, and in 1534 renamed the mound to officially be called the Temple of Heaven, and in 1545 demolished the Great Sacrificial Hall and built the Daxiang Hall. The Qing dynasty used the Ming dynasty's Temple of Heaven, and in 1749 expanded it to build the current marble mound with a total height of 5.18 meters and a diameter of 23.6 meters at the top, 39.4 meters in the middle, and 55.2 meters at the bottom. In 1751, the Daxiang Hall was renamed the Qi-nian Hall, but it was burned down by lightning in 1889, and the current Qi-nian Hall was rebuilt shortly thereafter. The current Temple of Heaven in Beijing has an area of ​​over 2.7 square kilometers, with a total outer wall extending over 6.5 kilometers. It includes ancillary facilities from the Ming dynasty such as the Huangqiuyu, Huangqian Hall, and Saikyu, and is loved by locals as a park. It was registered as a World Heritage Site in 1998 (World Cultural Heritage).

[Shuichi Kaneko]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国で明(みん)代以来、天子が祭天儀礼を行う円形の壇の称、またその付属施設を含む壇域全体の総称。古来儒家の礼説では、天命思想によって天子のみが天を祭ることができ、また陰陽思想に基づいて祭天壇は国都の南郊に置かれる円丘であった。このような南郊壇は前漢末の紀元前32年に置かれたのが最初であるが、南郊に円壇がつくられたのが確認できるのは、後漢(ごかん)初の紀元後26年のことである。以後、南郊あるいは円丘の祭天制度は種々の改変を受けつつ、魏晋(ぎしん)南北朝から隋(ずい)、唐を経て、宋(そう)、金、元、明、清(しん)と継承された。円丘の形は扁平な円柱形の壇（成）を重ねたもので、梁(りょう)・陳(ちん)では二成、隋・唐・宋では四成、元・明・清では三成であった。明では洪武(こうぶ)帝が南京(ナンキン)で南郊に大祀殿(だいしでん)を建てて天地を合祭し、永楽帝の北京(ペキン)遷都後も、大祀殿での祭祀が北京で行われた。嘉靖(かせい)帝は1530年に天地をそれぞれ独立に祭ることとして南郊に円丘を築き、1534年円丘の名称を改めて天壇を公称とし、1545年大祀殿を壊して大享(たいきょう)殿を建てた。清朝は明代の天壇を用い、1749年に拡張して、総高5.18メートル、直径上成23.6メートル、中成39.4メートル、下成55.2メートルの、現存する大理石造の円丘を築いた。1751年大享殿は祈年殿と改称されたが、1889年落雷で焼失し、現在の祈年殿はその直後再建されたものである。北京(ペキン)に残る現在の天壇は壇域2.7平方キロメートル余、外周の牆垣(しょうえん)の総延長6.5キロメートル余に及び、明朝以来の皇穹宇(こうきゅうう)、皇乾(こうけん)殿、斎宮(さいきゅう)などの付属施設を含み、公園として市民に親しまれている。1998年には世界遺産の文化遺産として登録されている（世界文化遺産）。

［金子修一］

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