Ikegami Honmon-Ji & Daibo
IKEGAMI HONMONJI
Nichiren Shonin founded Honmonji Temple (its sango, or official designation, is Choei-san or “ever-flourishing mountain”) just before his death at the request of Munenaka Ikegami offered 69,384 tsubo of land (about 210,000 square meters) which corresponds to the number of characters in the Lotus Sutra.
On March 15,1945, the temple was subjected to heavy bombing resulting in the destruction of all the structures except the main gate, the five-story pagoda, the Kyozo (a repository of Buddhist scriptures) and the Hoto (a pagoda). The temple was completely reconstructed through contributions from followers throughout the country.
Going up the front steps and walking through the Nio-mon (a gate with two guardian gods), one finds the Soshido hall where the statue of Nichiren is enshrined. This statue, the only embodiment of Nichiren in the temple, was made by his disciples on the seventh anniversary of his death. It is designated an important cultural property of Japan. Behind this hall is the Honden hall where Shakyamuni Buddha and four Bodhisattva are enshrined.
Behind the Honden is the octagonal Gobyo-sho (mausoleum) where the ashes of Nichiren are enshrined; it was built on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of his death. It is constructed entirely of hinoki Japanese cypress. The five-story pagoda was built in 1608. It stands 29.4 meters high with a 45 centimeter square beam running from the top to the second story in order to balance the structure. It was constructed to withstand a magnitude seven earthquake. The oldest five-story pagoda in Tokyo, it has been designated an important cultural property of Japan. The Kyozo, built in 1784, houses all the Buddhist scriptures in revolving hexagonal bookshelves. The Hoto was built on the site where Nichiren was cremated. Rebuilt in 1830, it is the only structure of its kind in Japan.
The history of Honmonji Temple stretches back some 700 years to its founding by Nichiren. Along with Kuonji Temple at Minobu, the headquarters of the Nichiren sect, Honmonji Temple rank as one of the major centers among the sect's 5,000 temples.
Ikegami Honmonji O-Eshiki
Over 300,000 worshippers at Buddhist memorial service commemorating the anniversary of High Nichiren Shonin's death.
Dates: October 11th-13th
Place: Ikegami Honmon Temple
City: 1-1-1, Ikegami, Ota-ku, Tokyo
It was some 700 years ago that Nichiren Shonin (1222-1282), the founder of the Nichiren Order passed away at the age of 61 here at the Ikegami Honmon Temple. Nichiren left his residence in Mt. Minobusan for the hot springs in the Hitachi area in order to recover from illness, but he stopped short of his destination and died in Ikegami of the former province of Musashi-no-Kuni (present-day Ikegami, Ota-ku, Tokyo). O-eshiki refers to a Buddhist service commemorating a death, which is conducted on October 13th, the anniversary of Nichiren's death. Although similar O-eshiki rituals are held at temples throughout the country, the memorial service held here at the Ikegami Honmonji Temple over three days from October 11th to 13th is of the grandest scale.
On the evening of the 12th is the Mando Kuyo Parade. A mando is a lighting device fixed on a tall pole and held by the handle, while kuyo means to make offerings to the souls of the dead and to pray for their repose. A total of 3,000 followers form rows and chant the prayer of the seven letters of 'Na-mu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo' of the Nichiren Order to the unique tune of drums and flutes which sound like 'ten ten tsuku tsuku.' The parade of one hundred mando lanterns adorned with cherry blossoms down a distance of some 2 kilometers from the environs of Ikegami Station to Ikegami Honmon Temple is extremely impressive. On this day, the precincts of the temple thrive well after midnight with as many as 300,000 worshippers gathering from all over the country.
On the 13th, during the Rinmetsudoji Hoyo, the head priest of the temple sounds the gong softly and solemnly, just as the gongs had been rung at the very moment of High Nichiren Shonin's nyumetsu, the death of a high priest entering nirvana.
