Five Mountain System

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The Five Mountain System (五山制度 gozan/gosan seido?) was a system to indicate the status of a Zen Buddhist temple developed in China under the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279) and which arrived in Japan in Kamakura during the late Kamakura period (1185–1333). The term "mountain" in this context means "temple" or "monastery".

In the final version of the system, Kamakura's Five Mountains were, from the first-ranked to the the last, the Kenchō-ji, the Engaku-ji, the Jufuku-ji, the Jōchi-ji and the Jōmyō-ji. Kyoto's Five Mountains were the Tenryū-ji, the Shōkoku-ji, the Kennin-ji, the Tōfuku-ji and the Manju-ji.

Contents

[edit] History

The system solidified under the Muromachi period under the patronage of the Ashikaga clan. It unified the great temples of the dominant Zen schools of the time in Kamakura and Kyoto, bringing them for the first time the overall recognition by the secular authorities. It came to Japan at a time when Kamakura's five great Zen temples were already known as the Five Mountains[1]. The system institutionalized a large and very important part of the Rinzai school, bringing to it the protection, but also the control of the state[2]. The whole network of temples was supervised by a state bureaucracy created specifically for the task[3].

The system in its final form had three tiers, with at the top Kyoto's Five Mountains (the Kyoto Gozan (京都五山), known in English also as Kyoto's Five Zen Temples) and Kamakura's Five Mountains (the Kamakura Gozan（鎌倉五山), known in English also as Kamakura's Five Zen Temples, in a subordinate position)[4]. Below them were the so-called Ten Temples, or Jissetsu (十刹), and finally at the bottom other temples collectively known as Shozan[5].

The Gozan temples were dominated mainly by the Rinzai Zen schools. The Kōchi-ha (宏智派) branch of the Sōtō Zen school however belonged to the Gozan system too.

Under their masters' patronage, the Five Mountain temples gradually became centers of learning and developed a characteristic literature called the Japanese Literature of the Five Mountains[6]. During the Japanese Middle Ages, its scholars exerted a far-reaching influence on the internal political affairs of the country. The system put great value in a strong orientation towards Chinese Zen, Chinese philosophy and Chinese literature. The organization's scholars had a close relationship with the Ming imperial dynasty, had a pervasive influence in many cultural fields and played an important role in importing Neo-Confucianism (particularly as far as the shushigaku (朱子学) is concerned) from China to Japan.

Independently from the Gozan temples there were also many others in various provinces called Rinka, among them Sōtō's Eihei-ji founded by Dōgen, and Rinzai's Daitoku-ji, Myōshin-ji and Kōgen-ji. During Japan's Middle Ages, the Rinka monasteries were Zen's other main branch.[7] During the decline of the Ashikaga authority in the latter Muromachi period, the Rinka, having a close relationship with local warlords, became progressively more important and influential than the Gozan, which followed their Ashikaga masters in their fate[8]. A measure of the success of the Rinka is given by the fact that today's Sōtō and Rinzai emerged from Rinka Zen.[9].

[edit] Earliest Use of the Term

The earliest historical sources to mention the Gozan system are documents that speak of several temples in Kamakura, among them the Jōchi-ji, the Kenchō-ji, the Engaku-ji and the Jufuku-ji, that we know already existed in 1299 as the Gozan Jissetsu ("Five Mountains-Ten Temples").

The first official recognition of the system came in 1333 from Emperor Go-Daigo during the brief Kemmu Restoration, because he promoted Daitoku-ji to Gozan rank. In the following year was added the Nanzen-ji, and later the Kennin-ji and the Tōfuku-ji.

[edit] The Early Ranking System

The first explicit formulation of a clear Gozan ranking system dates to the year 1341.

First Rank Kenchō-ji, Kamakura
Nanzen-ji, Kyōto
Second Rank Engaku-ji, Kamakura
Tenryū-ji, Kyōto
Third Rank Jufuku-ji, Kamakura
Fourth Rank Kennin-ji, Kyōto
Fifth Rank Tōfuku-ji, Kyōto
Subtemple (or jun-gozan) Jōchi-ji, Kamakura

In the year 1358 a new temple classification became official that defined more clearly also the hitherto vague "Ten Temples". The new temple listing was identical to the 1341 one until the fifth rank, and it omitted the subtemple (jun-gozan). Now the Five Mountains were:


Fifth rank Tōfuku-ji, Kyōto
Jōchi-ji, Kamakura
Jōmyō-ji, Kamakura
Manju-ji, Kyōto

The system was modified again many times according to the preferences of the government and of the Imperial Household until the deployment of the Ankoku-ji network of temples.

[edit] The Ankoku-ji System

From their base cities of Kamakura and Kyoto, the Five Mountains system had great influence on the entire country[10]. Following the advice of Musō Soseki, Ashikaga Takauji and his brother Ashikaga Tadayoshi decided to order the building in every Province of an Ankoku-ji (安国寺; "Temples for the National Pacification“) and a Rishō-tō (利生塔; "Pagodas for the Welfare of Sentient Beings")[11].

These were supposed to be dedicated to the memory of the dead of the Genkō War of 1331-3, war in which Emperor Go-Daigo broke the power of the Hōjō clan. Emperor Kōgon promulgated in 1345 an edict for the deployment of the new system, and from 1362 to 1367 the temples and the pagodas were built in 66 provinces[12].

The Ankoku-ji network was tightly controlled by the Ashikaga-shugo Governors and was associated with the Gozan system[13]. The Rishō-tō were direct property of the Gozan, with the exception of those associated with the Ashikaga, which were connected to powerful temples of non-Rinzai schools, mainly the Shingon, Tendai and Risshū sects[14].

Because of inner tensions within the Ashikaga which resulted with Tadayoshi's death by poisoning in 1352 and that of Takauji in 1358, the founders of the system couldn't oversee its building until completion.

The system was completed under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu when he was 10 years old. During his father Ashikaga Yoshiakira's regency, who was until his death busy with the war with the Southern Court (see Nanboku-chō), the Ashikaga-shugo had become however strong and independent warlords. Even though the provinces didn't accept any more the rule of the Gozan and of the shogunate, the Gozan/Ankoku-ji system remained a valuable instrument to rule the various Zen sects.

[edit] Final Form of the System

After the completion of Shōkoku-ji by Yoshimitsu in 1386 was created a new ranking system with Nanzen-ji at the top and in a class of its own[15]. The Nanzen-ji had the title of "First Temple of The Land"[16] and played a supervising role.


Nanzen-ji
  Kyoto Kamakura
First Rank Tenryū-ji Kenchō-ji
Second Rank Shōkoku-ji Engaku-ji
Third Rank Kennin-ji Jufuku-ji
Fourth Rank Tōfuku-ji Jōchi-ji
Fifth Rank Manju-ji Jōmyō-ji

[edit] The Jissetsu

The Jissetsu, the second tier of the Five Mountain system, had been created to be hierarchically under the Gozan, but developed slowly towards an independent ranking system of their own[17]. The temples of this rank were in general powerful institutions of great prestige and had to help the military government both financially and in other ways[18].

The number suggested by the name was never strictly enforced [19] and in the years between 1480 and 1486 the system included 46 temples, ending up ultimately having over 60. Later, a third system ranking developed, that of the shozan ("various temples") that brought 230 more temples under the umbrella of the officially recognized Zen temples.

[edit] References

This article is a faithful translation of German Wikipedia's Gozan article accessed on February 28, 2008, whose references are the following.

  • Daigan Lee Matsunaga und Alicia Orloff Matsunaga: Foundation of Japanese Buddhism; Vol. II; The mass movement (Kamakura & Muromachi periods). Buddhist Books International, Los Angeles and Tokyo 1976. ISBN 0-914910-27-2.

However, for clarity or completeness some sentences were added, and their position is indicated by the following references.

  1. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  2. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  3. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  4. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  5. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  6. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  7. ^ William Theodore De Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, Paul Varley (2005), Sources of Japanese tradition, Vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231121385, pages 310 – 311
  8. ^ William Theodore De Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, Paul Varley (2005), Sources of Japanese tradition, Vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231121385, pages 310 – 311
  9. ^ William Theodore De Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, Paul Varley (2005), Sources of Japanese tradition, Vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231121385, pages 310 – 311
  10. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  11. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  12. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  13. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  14. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  15. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  16. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  17. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  18. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following
  19. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2: Japan, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, ISBN 0941532909 , page 151 and following

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