Buddhist altar - Butsudan

In a broad sense, it refers to a platform on which a Buddhist statue is placed, such as a Shumidan. Stone, earthen, and wooden altars are names based on the material they are made of. In a narrow sense, it refers to a cabinet in a temple's inner Buddhist hall or in an ordinary home where a Buddhist statue or ancestral memorial tablet is placed. The first documented reference to this is an imperial edict dated March 27, 685, the 14th year of Emperor Tenmu's reign, in the Nihon Shoki, which states, "Build a Buddhist altar in each household in each province, and place a Buddhist statue and sutras there, and use them for worship and memorial services." As it spread among the general public, it was combined with folk beliefs in ancestral spirits, and came to mean an altar for worshiping and holding memorial services for ancestors. Styles vary depending on the sect, but generally the principal image is placed on a stepped platform, and in small altars the memorial tablets are enshrined on either side. In large altars consisting of three tiers, the principal image is placed in the center of the top tier, the statues of attendants or ancestors or hanging scrolls are placed on either side, and the memorial tablets are enshrined on the front left and right. Facing the space between the memorial tablets, from the right, a Buddhist rice bowl and a tea table are displayed, and on the middle tier, an incense burner and a death register are placed on the left and right, with a hanging lantern, a high cup, flowers, and a flower vase, and on the bottom tier, from the right, a flower vase, a candlestick, an incense holder, a bell (), a front incense burner for incense, a candlestick, and a flower vase. A sutra desk is placed in front of the altar, and a mokugyo (wooden fish) is placed on the right.

[Masao Fujii]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

広義には仏像を安置する壇のことで、須弥壇(しゅみだん)をさす。石壇、土(ど)壇、木壇はその材質による呼び名である。狭義には寺院の内仏堂や一般家庭に設けられた仏像・先祖の位牌(いはい)を安置する厨子(ずし)をいう。『日本書紀』天武(てんむ)天皇14年（685）3月27日の詔(みことのり)に「諸国(くにぐに)の家毎(ごと)に仏舎(てら)を作り乃(すなわ)ち仏像及び経を置き、以(もっ)て礼拝供養(らいはいくよう)せよ」とあるのが文献上の初見である。民間に広まるにつれて、民俗的な祖霊信仰と結合し、先祖の位牌を祀(まつ)り、供養する祭壇の意に変わっていった。宗旨によって様式を異にするが、総じて須弥壇に本尊を安置し、小型の場合には左右に位牌を祀る。また、三段からなる大型の場合には、上段の中央に本尊、左右に脇侍(きょうじ)または祖師像ないし掛軸を祀り、前方左右に位牌を祀り、位牌の間に向かって右から仏飯器、茶台を飾り、中段には香炉(こうろ)、過去帳(かこちょう)を中心に左右に吊灯籠(つりとうろう)、高杯(たかつき)、常花(じょうか)、花立(はなだ)てを配置し、下段には右から生花立て、燭台(しょくだい)、線香差し、鈴(りん)（）、線香用前香炉、燭台、生花立ての順に配置する。仏壇の前には経机(きょうづくえ)を置き、右側に木魚(もくぎょ)を置く。

［藤井正雄］

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