AntariksaIn Kamakura, the shogunal capital of that era, Chinese masters such as Rankei Doryo and Mugaku Shogen were at work founding the temples Kencho-ji [1253] (Fig. 1) and Engaku-ji [1282]. The Kencho-ji is a replica of one of the famous Ch�an headquarters at Hangchow in China. At that time, all such evidence goes to show that a determined effort was made by the organizers of Zen to bring over Chinese usage including a characteristic architecture as complete and correct a form as possible. In case of Zen monastery, temples were quite different both in plan and roughly bilaterally symmetrical. This reflects the regimentation of the Zen monk�s daily life, in which each act is expected to contribute to an over all attitude of religious discipline (Nishi & Hozumi 1985). The architecture of Zen style (zenshuyou) brought a philosophical form which was placed in the Zen Buddhist monasteries, constitute integration between the humans, the buildings and image of the Buddha. The sophisticated architecture in Zen temple was seen to be religious in the arrangement of the main buildings.
Figure 1. The shodo of Kencho-ji monastery. (Miyama 1988)
The architecture of Zen style was introduced from China during the Sung dynasty and was copied exactly for the monasteries of Rinzai sec in Japan. Many temples were founded by the Rinzai master Esai such as Shofuku-ji in the city of Hakata in Kenyu 6 [1195]. The arrangement of the plan of this monastery is typically Sung style. After that, he became the first abbot of Jofuku-ji founded in Shoji 2 [1199] in Kamakura, and then Kennin-ji built in Kennin 2 [1202] located in Kyoto, both of which were to become part of the gozan system.
The Zen complex is in general axial in plan and roughly symmetrically bilateral. This reflects the regimentation of the Zen monk�s daily life, in which each act is expected to contribute to an over all attitude of religious discipline (Nishi & Hozumi 1985:22). The layout of Tien-t�ung and Pei are special significance because traces of their influences can be found in numerous Zen temples of Japan (Dumoulin 1988b:223). In the case of layout plan of Rinzai sect monasteries (gozan), not all of these monasteries used the south-north arrangement axis. For instance Nanzen-ji and Tenryu-ji monasteries had used the east-west arrangement axis. The special arrangement of the plan of these two Rinzai sect monastery temples, gave encouragement towards a modification different from that of the Chinese plan layout. The other monasteries such as Kennin-ji, Tofuku-ji, Daitoku-ji, Shokoku-ji and Myoshin-ji have a layout plan whose arrangement is north-south direction. The Rinzai sect generally used the Zen style to bring an architecture order to the main buildings inside the monastery.
Thus the central functioning buildings of the Zen Buddhist monastery reflect the repetition, consistency, persistence, and order of the monastery ritual. The ritual was brought from China, and almost all parts of the building styles came from there too including such Chinese elements as swinging doors, tiled floor (Fig. 2). Outside the central complex from the main buildings we find limited beyond which Japanese Zen sect was not except the standard from China, inside the living quarters of the monks. Nishi & Hozumi (1985) said that: Though the Zen style was imported from Sung China, it would be a mistake to assume that Japan�s extant Zen structures are perfect replicas of Chinese prototypes. Here in totally Japanese in style, sliding screens, matted floors, and the sprawling building design of Japan take over here (Figs. 3 and 4). It is that Parent (1985) gives four reasons about architectural treatment in Zen style. Why were such exotic and heterogeneous influences accepted by the usually conservative Japanese? First, Japanese have from ancient times yearned for foreign things to borrow, assimilate and adapt; second, the Zen sect suited the temperament of the warrior class, and this martial elite had great admiration for the fatherland of the earliest Zen priest who introduced this style of architecture into Japan. Third, to fulfill the human need for harmony between opposites, a flamboyant architecture balanced well with the general austerity of the Zen sect. A fourth and very practical reason was that the structural method provided the long-sought method of opening interior space unencumbered by columns (Parent 1985). In Japanese style space can be developed and moved to another room, and the space always passes through between the rooms. This is the Japanese architecture at that period which still manages to stay in their culture. Generally, between the Zen style and the Japanese style can live together which the religious borrowed from China, but the architecture of the buildings it always combines in different style.
Figure 2. It has at the end of these plates and the doors are of Chinese paneled style (sankarado) swinging on a pivot and not on hinges (waraza). The doors and window have arched heads (katomado) and the latter wooden lattices. The Jizodo of Shokoku-ji temple, Tokyo. (Nishi & Hozumi 1985)
Figure 3. The hojo of Myoshin-ji temple.
Figure 4. The plan of hojo of Myoshin-ji temple (Hideya 1967).
Outside this monastery, a small Zen temple always shows the presence of difference architecture which opposite in free designated. In comparative with the architecture of the Zen monasteries which are rigid and consistent (Fig. 5). To find the reason for this contradiction, we must turn to the character of the sect itself. The small Zen temples are center and practice. The building were he lives in is temple because he is there and because he uses them, but beyond that are smaller the house. Without man they would almost be secular. This is why small Zen temples are Japanese in style.
Figure 5. The main hall (hondo) of Kousan-ji temple, Miyazu-shi, Kyoto (1795). An intrusion of Japanese style (wayo) into the main hall of the Rinzai sect temple, with wooden floors and veranda.
References
Dumoulin, H. 1988b. Zen Buddhism: A History. Japan. Vol 2. Translated by James W. Heisig and Paul Kniter. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Kishi, K. & Hozumi, N. 1985. What is Japanese Architecture? A survey of traditional Japanese architecture, with a list of sites and map, translated, adapted, and with an introduction by H. Mack Horton, Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd.
Parent, M. N. 1985. The Roof in Japanese Buddhist Architecture. Tokyo: Weatherhill/Kajima.
Miyama, S. 1988. Zusetsu Nihon no Bukkyo 4, Kamakura Bukkyo. Tokyo: Shinchosa.
Hideya, Y. 1967. Zen no Kenchiku. Tokyo: Shokokusha.
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