Japan 8th Part 2 Tamonin Amidha-do

In the previous blog I wrote about the Bishamonten-do. Today I’ll discuss the Amidha-do.

Amidha-do is the Kengyo (exoteric) hall and larger of the two buildings. The honzon in this hall is Amidha Nyorai, as the name implies, and it also houses, the lecture hall and the living quarters. It is about 50’ by 60’, irregularly shaped, but the area occupied probably comes out to about 3,000 ft². Most people know Amidha Nyorai, Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of lustrous Immeasurable light, so I won’t go into great detail about this figure.

There is one central of main room that measure about 28 jo (a jo is one tatami mat of about 3’X6’) or 15’ X 40’. This space has three sections separated by shoji. At one end is the entry and at the other

end is the Amidha statue, shumadan and kenmitsu-dan (altar). Upon entering the Amidha-do, before the central room is a large doma, an area larger than a genkan for people to remove their shoes, staging, etc..

The Amidha statue probably dates to the Meji period, in the mid 19^th century. The photo you see of

the statue is taken from a picture, the statute itself is out of the temple being repaired as a result of damage done from the recent earthquake.

The living quarters are off to one side of the central space. There is one tatami room of 8 jo or 12’x12’ with an oshiire (four foot deep cabinet at one end to hold futons, clothing, etc.) and an adjacent room with wood floors, that is about 15’ X 9’. A simple kitchen is attached to the wooden floor room. The toilets and o-furo are on the living quarters side, added on to the main building. There is a, 8 jo reception / guest room off to another side of the main room. An engawa is in an L shape off the central room and reception area. All the rooms are separate by sliding panels or shoji.

This is the building that is used for most gatherings, lectures, study, memorial services, segaki,

services, etc. As I said in a previous blog, a community center was built nearby, and the danka members have built their own Tamonin community center adjacent to the Amidah-do. As a result this building gets much less use than in days gone by.

Though the building is about 300 years old, during the Tokogawa era, the very back of the building,

behind the statue of Amida, is a wall that reportedly dates from the earliest temple building here. We know that the Bishamonten statue was carved shortly after the aborted Mongolian invasion of Japan in 1289. So speculatively that section of the building could be as old or older. Some of the beams, which can be seen from the doma, are hand hewn and virtually black with age. The interior surfaces have been traditional Japanese plaster and wood. The rice paper in the shoji have been replaced with translucent glass, it has a rice paper appearance. The exterior is also traditional Japanese plaster and wood.

Among the interesting anecdotes about Tamonin is the history of a Japanese Prime Minister, this is before the Great Pacific War, hiding out in the Amidha-do at Tamonin. My understanding is that the then Prime Minister was a member of the Socialist Party. There had been an assassination of other Socialist party members by a dissatisfied faction in Tokyo. Matsuzaki, the village where Tamonin is located, and the surrounding area, was a hotbed of Socialist sympathies and activity. So at that time the Prime Minister took refuge at Tamonin where he knew the local population would protect him. I can only imagine what Matsuzaki, the Amidha-do, and Tamonin, must’ve been like during that period.

Buddhist institutions have historically been an integral part of the Japanese power structure. The use of Tamonin as a refuge for a threatened Prime Minister illustrates how, even in the twentieth century, that was still true.

Next blog I’ll discuss what it was like to live at Tamonin, in a small rural village, in a 300 year old building, 20 years ago and during my current sojourn.