|
||||||
| gorintou 五輪塔 | ||||||
 |
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
| KEY WORD : architecture / buildings & structures | ||||||
|
||||||
| Lit. five-ring pagoda. Also gorin 五輪, gorin sekitou 五輪石塔, houkaitou 法界塔, gorin touba 五輪塔婆, gogedatsurin 五解脱輪. A five-storied pagoda (Sk; stupa) in which each storey corresponds to one of five elements. The bottom storey is square and corresponds to the earth ring *chirin 地輪. Next is the spherical water ring *suirin 水輪, surmounted by the triangular ring of fire karin 火輪. Above this is a reclining half-moon shape fuurin 風輪, representing the wind, and topmost is the gem-shaped ring of space kuurin 空輪. It is believed that the gorintou was first adopted in the mid-Heian period by the esoteric Buddhist sects, Shingon 真言 and Tendai 天台. In Shingon Buddhism it symbolized *Dainichi 大日, the supreme Buddha, 'essence of the infinite levels of the unconscious mind'. Buddha was also thought to be a manifestation of the universal five elements. Each storey of the pagoda is usually inscribed with the Sanskrit character for the element represented. After the Heian period the gorintou was often used as a funerary monument. Most gorintou are two to three meters high; the tallest example, at Iwashimizu Hachimanguu 岩清水八幡宮, is six meters high. Large examples are made of stone gorin sekitou, while smaller ones are sometimes made from wood ita gorintouba 板五輪塔婆, clay nendo gorintouba 粘土五輪塔婆 or metal. These smaller stupas are used as votive offerings, and are often hand crafted by those who present them to the temple. The oldest known Chuusonji 中尊寺 Gorintou (1169), can be seen at Chuusonji Shakuson-in 釈尊院 in Iwate preference. Sometimes parts of a gorintou are used for decoration in a garden, and the spherical water ring and the trapezoidal fire ring sometimes serve as a handwash basin *chouzubachi 手水鉢. An example of this type can be seen at Katsura Rikyuu 桂離宮 in Kyoto. Sometimes a small-scale gorintou made from a single block of stone, issekikokusei gorintou 一石刻成五輪塔, is also used in private gardens. |
||||||
 Gangouji 元興寺 (Nara)
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
| REFERENCES: | ||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
| EXTERNAL LINKS: | ||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
| NOTES: | ||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. No reproduction or republication without written permission. 掲載のテキスト・写真・イラストなど、全てのコンテンツの無断複製・転載を禁じます。 |
||||||
