{Inter} Cultural Japan

After writing my A New Victory about the Narita temple, I found the article Naritasan Shinshoji and Commoner Patronage During the Edo Period on the web, written by Patricia J. Graham of the University of Kansas.

I encourage you to read the whole article, but here are a few points I have picked up in addition to my own post:

- the temple owns great art treasures and is mistakenly neglected by art historians who focus only on the ancient temples of Nara and Kyoto.

[Decorations of the Narita pagoda]

- the temple was just a countryside temple until Edo was founded and the fourth shogun, Ietsuna, patronized the temple; this was continued by the daimyo of Sakura under whose jurisdiction the temple fell.
- Real fame came when the wildly popular and rich kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro I (1660-1704) patronized the temple after dreaming of Fudo; he also appeared in several Fudo plays, one of which featured the history of the temple.
- Patronage was then taken up by the many fans of the actor. This led to the establishment of many new buildings in the first half of the 17th c., of which the pagoda, sutra hall and bell tower still exist. The woodcarvings on the pagoda with their Confucian and Daoist themes call the Yomeimon Gate of Nikko to mind.
- Groups of commoners paid regular visits to Narita, a journey on foot of two and a half day from Edo. They believed the Fudo gave protection against fires and epidemics. Many of the votive tablets in the Reikokan Museum were donated by such commoners.
- the Fudo deity is associated with travel safety and the temple therefore thrives on car blessings.
- The Main Hall of the temple is a modern concrete edifice, but was built by famous architect Yoshida Isoya, who als designed the Museum Yamato Bunkakan in Nara and the Main Hall of Chuguji temple.

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