In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Chapter Nine Buddhist Sites of Worship, 1945–2005 world war ii dramatically changed the architectural landscape of Japan. Previously, wooden structures predominated. Afterwards, increasingly stringent fire-prevention codes, better access to foreign building materials, and new technologies encouraged the construction of buildings—including Buddhist worship halls traditionally made of timber—of reinforced concrete and other modern building materials. Japanese architects embraced modernist styles of architecture—buildings erected using modern materials, stripped of extraneous ornamentation, and designed for ease of use—as much for technical virtuosity as for aesthetics and practicality.¹ These structures also contributed to projecting a desired aura of modernity in the appearance of Japan’s built environment. Earlier in the twentieth century, some temples had utilized these materials, but the practice remained sporadic. Only after the war, with the expansion of urban fire-prevention districts in the early 1950s to encompass most temple compounds , did reinforced concrete construction become widespread at temples.² Yet because Japanese building codes allow officials to defer to local preferences, temples can still obtain permission to construct wood-framed structures. Nevertheless , most recent temple buildings are composed of modern materials, sometimes mimicking older timber-framed buildings and sometimes creating wholly new types of religious spaces, light-filled and comfortable, in accordance with principles of modern design. In premodern Japan, although each Buddhist sect required slightly different building types, certain consistent stylistic elements identified all their buildings as Buddhist. Not so for recent Buddhist monuments. These diverse structures reflect the varied nature of Buddhist practice in Japan today as well as the competing expressions of modern architectural styles. Buddhist Sites of Worship | 227 Temples Responding to Tradition By its very nature, most religious practice is conservative, aiming to instill in its clergy and worshipers respect for established traditions. Perpetuation of familiar building forms and icons establishes continuity with the past. Yet the appearance of even the most conventional Buddhist temples varies over time—to accommodate new devotional practices and fluctuating numbers of parishioners, the aesthetic and ideological preferences of temple leaders and financial backers, the availability of raw materials, and the adoption of new construction technology . Adherence to traditional forms prevails most frequently at temples that possess landmark buildings made of wood, wish to attract conservative-minded worshipers, or are newly established and whose founders desire association with orthodox Buddhist institutions. One of the earliest postwar temple structures based on a traditional form takes as its model not a traditional architectural prototype, but a Buddhist statue. It represents, in reinforced concrete, one of the faith’s most familiar deities, the bodhisattva Kannon, in a popular female incarnation, the WhiteRobed Kannon (Byakue Kannon). The statue, with a worship hall within, rises prominently above a large hill at its namesake temple, Ōfuna Kannonji (fig. 9.1). Passengers at the nearby Ōfuna train station south of Tokyo can see the statue even at night, when it is illuminated by floodlights. It was consecrated in 1960 and the temple opened the following year, in affiliation with the adjacent Sōtō Zen temple Muga Sōzan Mokusenji (founded in 1909).³ The Ōfuna Kannon is the most famous and one of the earliest of many postwar Daibutsu, monumental-sized statues of Buddhist deities, usually Kannon or Amida, made out of reinforced concrete instead of the traditional wood or bronze. Many of these statues house interior multilevel worship halls and observation platforms. They serve to spread the compassion and protection of Buddhist deities to those who gaze upon the images and/or to attract tourists . Although all existing concrete Buddhist statue-buildings in Japan postdate World War II, their origin actually dates to the early twentieth century. Takamura Kōun is credited with stimulating the boom in modern statuebuildings , although his design was but a temporary structure for amusement, conceived after he saw an empty spot of land in central Tokyo that he thought appropriate for such a venture. His inspiration probably stemmed from several sources: the popular Ueno Daibutsu in Tokyo’s Ueno Park, which he saw as a child; his knowledge of large, temporary models constructed in the Edo and early Meiji periods as misemono (spectacle attractions) at festivals; and the Statue of Liberty, which France sent to America in 1886.⁴ He built the framework out of bamboo and paper and, with the help and funding of friends, covered it with thatch and plaster and painted it to resemble bronze. His statue, in the form of [18.216.121.55] Project MUSE (2024-04-19...

Share