Engaku-ji Audio Guide

Engaku-ji: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Engaku Temple

   Engaku-ji: His teachings were inherited by the Zen master Muso Soseki, who went on to influence Japanese culture and the arts profoundly.

   Welcome to Engaku Temple, known in Japanese as 円覚寺, one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan. You are in Kita-Kamakura, the quiet northern part of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The temple is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains, the five Zen temples that were given special rank under the Kamakura shogunate. Here is a detail that sets the scene. Engaku Temple sits right beside Kita-Kamakura Station on the Yokosuka Line, so close that the railway tracks cut across the formal entrance to the grounds. You walk along a path beside a pond and cross a small bridge, and in just a few steps the everyday world is left behind. In the next few minutes we will look at why this temple was founded, how its buildings and its famous bell carry a Chinese-inspired style, and how Zen took root here. Take a slow breath, and let's begin.

2. 02

   Engaku Temple: A Temple Born from Grief

   Engaku-ji: The temple complex is arranged in a straight line, reflecting the orderly simplicity of Zen.

   Engaku Temple was founded in 1282, in the Kamakura period, by Hojo Tokimune, the regent of the Kamakura shogunate. It was founded to console the soldiers who died on both sides in the two Mongol invasions, the conflicts known in Japan as the Bun'ei and Koan campaigns. So the temple began as an act of remembrance, not of triumph. Tokimune invited a Chinese monk from Song dynasty China, Mugaku Sogen, to serve as the founding abbot. His teachings were inherited by the Zen master Muso Soseki, who went on to influence Japanese culture and the arts profoundly. The temple belongs to the Rinzai school of Zen and is the head temple of the Engaku-ji branch of that school. The temple's full name, Zuirokusan Engaku Kosho Zenji, carries a story of its own. It refers to the auspicious appearance of a white deer during the founding ceremony. Take the name literally, and you can almost picture that moment in the hills around you.

3. 03

   Engaku Temple: Architecture in the Chinese Zen Style

   Engaku-ji: It was made by order of Hojo Sadatoki, who lived from 1271 to 1311, after he had confined himself in the Benzaiten shrine on Enoshima.

   The buildings here follow a style that came to Japan from China during the Kamakura period. It is called kara-yo, meaning Chinese style, or Zenshu-yo, meaning Zen sect style, and its look is close to the architecture of the Song dynasty. Engaku Temple keeps the classical design of a Japanese Zen monastery. One striking feature is the layout. The temple complex is arranged in a straight line, reflecting the orderly simplicity of Zen. As you move along it, you pass the Sanmon Gate, which symbolizes the Three Gates of Liberation and is an Important Cultural Property of Kanagawa Prefecture. Walking through it is a little like stepping through a threshold of the mind as well as of the grounds. Further along stands the Shariden, a reliquary hall and one of the temple's two National Treasures. The other is the Great Bell. Between them, these two treasures make Engaku Temple one of the most celebrated Zen sites in Kamakura.

4. 04

   Engaku Temple: The Great Bell

   Engaku-ji: Kencho-ji ranks first, followed by Engaku Temple, then Jufukuji, Jochiji, and Jomyoji.

   Now listen for the Great Bell, called the Ogane. It was cast by Mononobe Kunimitsu in August 1301, and at 2.6 meters tall it is the largest of all the many temple bells of Kamakura, and in fact the largest in the Kanto region. It was made by order of Hojo Sadatoki, who lived from 1271 to 1311, after he had confined himself in the Benzaiten shrine on Enoshima. The bell is a National Treasure. Only two bells in Kanagawa Prefecture hold that designation in the category of crafts, this one and the bell at Kencho-ji, and they are also the only ones from the Kamakura period. Together with the bell at Jorakuji, the oldest in the city, they are counted among the Three Famed Bells of Kamakura. In the belfry there is also a waniguchi gong from 1540, which is designated an Important Cultural Property. A waniguchi is a flat hanging gong, and it adds a second, older voice to the place.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Engaku Temple is one of the 22 historic sites included in Kamakura's proposal for inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage list, and it still functions as a center for Zen practice. That mix of living tradition and historic architecture is part of its appeal. As you wander, notice how the straight line of the complex leads your eye onward, and how the nature around it softens the geometry. A one-minute walk from the station brought you here, and you can carry that contrast with you. If your curiosity is still awake, think about the other Kamakura Five Mountains. Kencho-ji ranks first, followed by Engaku Temple, then Jufukuji, Jochiji, and Jomyoji. Each one has its own story waiting to be discovered.