浄土宗 中央山高福寺

 About Kofukuji

 This Kofukuji temple is a branch of shrine temple of Chion-In in Higashiyama, Kyoto city.

 Kofukuji was founded by Mr. Ichioka Kiheiji who is an ancestor of the Tsukada family - lived in the mid-center of Ochiai-jyuku - in the mid of the Sengoku period (1543 AD).

 

 Kofukuji is the first public facility in Ochiai village. After founding this temple,every 100 years, the main hall rebuilt four times, and the current main hall is newly built in 1979.

　

 The sitting Budda statue placed in the center is Amitabha Nori , .

 The standing statue of the Kannon Bodhisattva is on the right side.

 The Seishi Bodhisattva statue is also standing on the left side.Whan all 3 statues are gathered,they are called ’Amida-Sanzon’.

 Amitabha statue is established in 1719, and both of Bodhisattva-statues is established in 1743.Each are made by Buddha statue sculptor,Mr. Sakuuchi Jyubei from Kiso-fukushima in Nagano. Monk Royo of the eleventh generation of this temple and monk Choyo of the twelfth generation drew eyes on the Buddha statues.

 

 The sitting statues on both sides of Amida-Sanzon are sculptures of the famous monks,Zendo and Honen,established in 1692.

 

 In addition, the original Amida-Sanzon at the time of the beginning of this temple is 480 years old and a little small.

 

 At the beginning,the size of the garden of Kofuku-ji was over 2ha, including  bushes,forests,and rice fields. 

 On the west side of the main vestibule, there is a stone monument 

 dedicated to Prince Shotoku (1730).This is also known as Fudezuka,that means ‘Mound for Burush’ in Japanese, built in hopes of improving calligraphy and school learning.

  The monument standing next to Fudezuka is the Tsukada-sen-syoutoku-hi, which is an inscription that praised the achievement of Tsukada Yazaemon who contributed to the development of Ochiai village. There is paddy field in Yozaka area from Yamanota Mr. Tsukada Yazaemon constructed irrigation water for this area so that the villagers of Ochiai could have been cultivaiting rice. 

 
 Fukuzo-Inari is located in the back of the torii (The entrance to a sacred shrine)was established by monk Tencho of the 17th generation in 1825,and this is the brunch from the Toyokawa Inari.

 

  Monk Tencho also began Terakoya of Kofukuji-a private elementary school using a room of temple (in the Edo period )-for the first time at Ochiai.

 After that, the haiku poet Suzuki Kiseki and his mates took over this terakoya after the Meiji Period.

 When the new government issued a school system in 1872, they opened an elementary school named "Shikyu-sya" in this Koufukuji. 

 In the following year, they moved the terakoya to Zensyoji Temple because of  increasing students.

 And they moved that to the current primary school place in 1886.

 

This temple is Jodo sect.

 Jodo-shu (浄土宗, "The Pure Land School"), also known as Jodo Buddhism, is a branch of Pure Land Buddhism  derived from the teachings of the Japanese ex-Tendai monk Honen. It was established in 1175 and is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jodo Shinshu.

 

 About 2,500 years ago from now, the Buddha (Siddhartha) founded Buddhism. Amitabha is a kind of Buddha that appears in the teaching.

 Amitabha was a senior of Buddha who attained enlightenment before Buddha becoming Buddhist.

 Amitabha made 48 petitions when he was called ‘Hozo bodhisattva ‘and swore that he would not become a Buddha until he did not fulfill it.

One of the 48 petitions is "A man reciting my name will be welcome to the western Pure Land. Even if he is an ordinary man losing his way ".

 And the petition was fulfilled and Amitabha is in the western Pure land. Amitabha Nori is a ‘light Buddha’ who has an eternal life and shines all over the world. 

 Buddhism is the teaching of Buddha and also teaches to become a Buddha.

 However, in order to become a Buddha by liberation , it is necessary to conduct a hard practice, and it is almost impossible for us to be a Buddha by practicing the precepts on our own.

 

 For example, it is difficult to keep the rule to abstain from killing. For the sake of living, you must kill creatures-like animals and plants. 

All the soul of the ordinary kind like us can go to the the western Pure land by wishing for the mercy of Amitabha and recting the name of Amida Buddha "Namu-Amida-Butsu", then we can become a Buddha in the wesrern Pure Land---This is the teaching of Jodo sect.