joudo teien　浄土庭園

KEY WORD :　architecture / gardens

Lit. Pure Land garden. Large pond gardens at Pure land Buddhist temples which recreate the palatial garden of *Amida 阿弥陀 Buddha's Pure Land joudo 浄土 Paradise. Typically these Heian period gardens are built on the west side and in front of the temple's Amida Hall. The main feature of the Pure Land garden is the lotus pond which symbolizes the lotus pond of Amida's Western Paradise saihou 西方 in which souls are reborn. Because Pure Land temples were often built on the sites of aristocratic villas, joudo teien were often converted from secular gardens in the shinden style *shinden-zukuri teien 寝殿造庭園. Despite the very different functions of the two gardens, the harmony between the pond and structures as well as in the treatment of the shoreline and rock groupings are similar. The best known but much altered examples of Pure Land gardens are Byoudouin Hououdou 平等院鳳凰堂 (1053), and Joururuji *Amidadou 浄瑠璃寺阿弥陀堂 (1107), both in Kyoto. Although all of the original structures have burned down, the Pure Land garden at Moutsuuji 毛越寺 in Iwate prefecture preserves the original 13c dimensions, contours and rock groupings. Perhaps the greatest joudo teien was that built by Fujiwara Michinaga 藤原道長 (966-1027) at Houjouji 法成寺 in Kyoto. Other Pure Land gardens, such as those originally at Saihouji 西苔寺 and Rokuonji 鹿苑寺 in Kyoto, were significantly altered in the Muromachi period to accommodate new Chinese garden styles.

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