Pagoda

Tutor: Jamie Mayers 11:00 a.m. Thursday 24. Discuss the role, design, construction and decoration of the pagoda in a Japanese temple complex. How, in all of these aspects, does it differ from the design, construction and symbolism of the pagoda in China and Korea?

Qihong Liu 752642

ABPL20030 2016 SEM1

The pagoda has a very important role in a Japanese temple complex. In order to have a better understanding from the aspects of role, design, construction and decoration of the pagoda in Japan, this essay will firstly discuss the origin of pagoda to reveal the connection between Japanese pagoda and Chinese and Korean pagoda. Then use examples from China and Korea to compare to Japanese pagoda from the perspective of role, design, construction and decoration to state the differences between Japanese pagoda and Chinese/Korean pagoda.

Pagoda was originally derived from the South Asian stupa architecturally and named by the Chinese as “ta”. Instead of following the form of stupa that is a round earthen mound( Fig 11), when the pagoda first appeared in China, it appeared as multistoried towers, that may have been inspired by the shape of Han Chinese watchtowers. The transformation from stupa to pagoda and appearance of Figure 1 pagoda in China might be the result of the change of Buddhism. Buddhism was firstly introduced to China in the first century B.C. during Han Dynasty but pagoda did not appear until Sui or T’ang Dynasty in the late 6th century. This might be because the Buddhism was in the period of deemphasizing representation during Han Dynasty, while after the establishment of Mahayana Buddhism in T’ang Dynasty, representations were permitted.2 During the 6th century, the Buddhism eventually crossed into Japan via Korean Peninsula. Therefore, the pagoda finally appeared in Japan and got rid of the effect of Korean temple style gradually to form its own features.3

From the aspect of role that the pagoda plays in a Japanese temple complex, it was used as a sacred place to enshrine and worship the remains of a Buddhist Saint, known as busshari in Japanese, which are the ashes and bone fragments left after the cremation. This role of pagoda started with the death of Gautama.

After the cremation for Gautama had been held, his remain was divided into eight 1

“The stupa,” Karen Shelby, Khanacademy, last modified 2014, https://www.khanacademy.org/ humanities/art-asia/beginners-guide-asian-culture/buddhist-art-culture/a/the-stupa 2

Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 286.

3

‘The Buddhist World: Buddhism in East Asia’, Buddha Dharma Education Association, 2012.

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Qihong Liu 752642

ABPL20030 2016 SEM1

Tutor: Jamie Mayers 11:00 a.m. Thursday

parts and were given to eight prestigious tribes in India and all of those eight tribes enshrined the portion of Gautama’s busshari in a stupa.

Therefore, as the stupa was transformed into pagoda in China and then spread to Korea and Japan, the number of pagoda increased rapidly in the East Asia but there was not enough busshari for every pagoda. As a result, the busshari was replaced by jewels, or scroll of doctrines in many pagodas.4 This religious role of pagoda in the Japanese temple complex is similar to Chinese pagoda role; however, what differs the role of Figure 2 Japanese pagoda from Chinese pagoda is the representation of centralized authority. Because the Buddhism was spread to Japan via Korean Peninsula, the early Japanese temples derived from traditional Korean temple plans and both Korean and Japanese were using Buddhism as a tool to help the transformation towards centralized authority.5 For examples, by comparing the plan of Hwangnyongsa Temple in Gyeongju, Korea(Fig 26) and the plan of Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings at Shitennoji, Japan(Fig 37), demonstrates that the pagoda and the main hall aligned on the central axis with the entrance and the temple was planned strictly symmetrical along the central axis. This difference of the role between Chinese pagoda and Japanese/Korean pagoda may be caused by different political stage at that time.

When centralized authority had existed before the appearance of Buddhism in China, the arrival of Buddhism in Korea and Japan could be beneficial for their formation of centralizing power in politics. Therefore, the central axis’s representing the power of the temple and strong respect towards the hierarchs indicated the centralized authority. Also the meaning of the many levels of heavens inhabited by many Figure 3 Buddhas was lost in the concept of the role of the pagoda in a Japanese temple complex.

J.Edward Kidder, Jr. Busshari and Fukuzo, Buddhist Relics and Hidden Repositories of Horyu-ji.

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1992 19/2-3 4

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Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 290.

Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 290.

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Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 290.

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Tutor: Jamie Mayers 11:00 a.m. Thursday In terms of design, the pagoda in Japanese temple complex carried on some elements from traditional Chinese pagoda and developed its own significant features. For Japanese pagoda, it is commonly designed as a five-tier system because each tier of the pagoda corresponds to an element of the nature that each succeeding story recedes as it rises which represent as the ‘branches of the tree of life’.8. From the bottom tier to the top tier, the five elements represent earth, water, fire, wind and sky sequentially.9On the top of every pagoda in Japanese temple, they finished the pagoda with a traditional arrangement making up by a series of turned-over bowls and lotus flower( Fig 4), representing the five famous deities and four sacred bodhisattva of the upper worlds.The shape of flame was originally used to symbolize the fire but when people thought it might cause the pagoda burnt accidentally, they later change the meaning of the shape to water.10 This structure can be traced back to the stupa in the ancient India which called “chattris” meaning “umbrellas”. And Figure 4 speaking of chattris, the difference on the aspect of design on the Chinese pagoda can be revealed. Because the Chinese pagoda is the first version that transformed from stupa, the design of pagoda is essentially a huge proportion of chattris.11 As a result, Chinese and Korean pagodas usually designed as seven or more than seven stories, such as the Songyue Temple Ta( Fig 512), the largest and the oldest surviving ta in China.13 Differs from the four-sided square accessible Japanese pagoda, located in the middle of a river valley in Dengfeng, Henan Province, the Songyue ta is a twelve-sided polygon pagoda with fifteen levels and it is inaccessible. The little windows and doors on the twelve sides of every individual story are completely representational.

Qihong Liu 752642

ABPL20030 2016 SEM1

Figure 5

Eric Stratton: The Evolution of Indian Stupa Architecture in East Asia. （Vedams Books (P) Ltd, 2000），16.

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“Everything About Japanese Pagoda,” Jappleng University, last modified February, 2015, https://www.jappleng.com/culture/articles/jp-culture/170/japanese-pagoda-and-history 10

‘Pagodas’, The Kyoto Project, April 10, 2009.

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Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 286.

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“Songyue Pagoda,” travelneu.com, 2016, http://travelneu.com/tourism/china/songyue-pagoda

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Liu, Laurence G.: Chinese Architecture (New York: Rizzoli, 1989), 47.

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Qihong Liu 752642

ABPL20030 2016 SEM1

Tutor: Jamie Mayers 11:00 a.m. Thursday

From the aspect of decoration, Japanese pagoda is quite different from Chinese and Korean pagodas. For the pagoda in Japanese temple, they are usually timber work without any painting on the frame like the pagoda in Horyu-ji Temple( Fig 614), or many of them are also painted in scarlet like the three-story pagoda in Kiyomizu-dera( Fig 715). The grey tiles on the roof can both work in cooperation with the dark brown timber frame and work in contrast with the reddish timber. Both of the visual effect only used pure color without any images or status of Buddha to create the sense of Figure 6 solemn and sacred. On the contrast, the pagodas in China and Korea are usually decorated with the images and status of Buddha or other Buddhist element to convey the relationship between the pagoda and Buddhism. For examples, the Iron Pagoda( Fig 12) in Kaifeng, Henan Province, is fully decorated with the images of Buddhist elements.16 And the Kumnung Sudoam three-tier pagoda in Korea has Buddha status on each sides of the pagoda. This difference on the decoration between Japanese pagoda and Chinese/ Korean pagoda may be because the appearance of pagoda in Japan is always along with a temple and the Figure 7 pagoda is always a part of Japanese temple complex; however, the pagodas in China and Korea sometimes appears alone with no temple around. So the relationship of the pagoda and Buddhism can only be expressed through the decorations.

From the aspect of construction, Japanese pagoda is consistent on the choice of structure and material, which is proven to be adequate for its local environmental condition. The material had been used for most of Japanese pagoda was simply timber only. The primary structure which had been applied to a Japanese pagoda is a massive central pillar that runs from a deep hole below the surface of foundation stone under the ground to the very top of the pagoda through the central axis, Figure 8 14

“Five-story Pagodas: Why Can't Earthquakes Knock Them Down?,” NIPPONIA No.33 June 15, 2005, http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia33/en/topic/ “Three-Story Pagoda in Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto,” Panoramio, last modified May 4, 2013, http://www.panoramio.com/photo/89751557 15

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Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 358.

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Tutor: Jamie Mayers 11:00 a.m. Thursday called as Shinbashira in Japanese.17 Shinbashira is actually not a load bearing component that it is more like hanging loosely through the middle of the pagoda.

Therefore, every successive floor is just stacked upon the lower floor that none of the vertical load would be transferred to the pillar in the middle. Also, the joist between the floors are fitted with timber brackets to increase the allowance of horizontal movement of each story under the lateral force. This kind of primary structure helped the pagoda survive encountering earthquakes through the history by transferring the horizontal force into the Shinbashira and then the energy would be dispersed into the ground safely.18 Meanwhile, the secondary structure that had been significant of Japanese style of pagoda is the extension of eaves. The eaves of Japanese pagoda were all extended further out from the wall of each side that is designed to prevent the rainwater from leaking into the primary structure of the pagoda. This avoided the rotting of timber frame, softening of foundation soil and finally prevented the pagoda from sinking or collapsing. The beauty of slope on the eaves needed to give the credit to the invention of a unique arrangement of staggered which created a supporting system to overhang the props and beams. 19

Qihong Liu 752642

ABPL20030 2016 SEM1

In terms of the difference on material, the choice of materials in Chinese and Korean pagodas are diversified. In China, the appearance of pagoda can be traced back to Han Dynasty as timber structure in the early 3rd century A.D. and then in order to increase the survival of pagoda through lightning strikes, the materials used for building pagodas were changed to stone and bricks since T’ang Dynasty in the early 7th century A.D.20 The Songyue Ta is the representation of Chinese brick pagoda that the main thick brick structure were usually smoothened by covering the exterior surface with mud or plaster. Comparing to the brick pagoda of China and the wooden pagoda of Figure 9 Japan, the material had been used for building pagodas in Korea was much more simple, the stones. Because the supply of highquality granite stones in Korea is plenty, the stone became the primary material with no doubt. After the 8th century, the stone pagoda was widely spread in Korea and over a thousand stone pagodas survived into modern times.

‘Earthquake Response of Ancient Five-Story Pagoda Structure Of Horyu-ji Temple In Japan,’ Koji Nakahara, Toshiharu Hisatoku , Tadashi Nagase, Yoshinori Takahashi.(n.d.) 3.

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‘Why pagodas don’t fall down,’ Kyoto, December 18,1997.

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‘Why pagodas don’t fall down,’ Kyoto, December 18,1997.

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Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 358.

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Qihong Liu 752642

ABPL20030 2016 SEM1

Tutor: Jamie Mayers 11:00 a.m. Thursday

In terms of the difference on structure, Chinese pagodas were more diversified than Japanese and Korean pagodas. The majority of Chinese pagodas have survived into modern times were brick pagodas since Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties.

Because of the old saying that “Saving a life exceeds building a seven-storied pagoda” 21, many Chinese pagodas were constructed as a sevenfloor pagoda. The representational example of a Chinese seven-storied brick pagoda would be The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, located in the Da Ci'en Temple complex in Xi’an, Shanxi Province, which was built in 652 A.D( Fig 1022). The whole pagoda is accessible and the stairs inside the pagoda make it durable for visitors to climb up to the upper level to Figure 10 capture the view of the whole city through the arch window on each sides of every floor.

Because this area of China is lack of rainfall and the mud surface and brick structure is semi-waterproofed, the eaves of The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is built for the symbolic meanings rather than actual function. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was also built in a rectangle form that was similar to the Japanese pagoda but without the Shinbashira system in the brick structure. In order to increase the survival of pagoda through earthquakes, the revolution of forms emerged later in the Song’s pagoda structure. Differs from the Japanese Shinbashira system, the Chinese pagoda designers decided to generate the rectangular form into hexagon or octagon form because the forms of polygon were more stable, such as Songyue Pagoda and Figure 11 Iron Pagoda( Fig 1223) which have been mentioned before. Although there are few wooden structure pagoda survived in China, a timber structure 67-meter-high pagoda, built in 1056, is standing in Yingxian, Shanxi Province, named as “Mu-Ta”

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‘Big Wild Goose Pagoda’, Travel China Guide, 2014,

“Big Wild Goose Pagoda,” China Highlights, last modified October, 2015, http:// www.chinahighlights.com/xian/attraction/big-wild-goose-pagoda.htm 22

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“ Kaifeng Iron Pagoda,” Cultural Cina, 2016, http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/ Scenery88bye361.html 6

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Tutor: Jamie Mayers 11:00 a.m. Thursday

meaning wooden pagoda( Fig 1124). The pagoda was elevated on four “moon terraces” called yuetai in Chinese, each yuetai was built with a pair of side stairs for visitors accessing to upper level of the pagoda.

Instead of using any similar design to the Shinbashira system to increase the resilience against earthquake, the Mu-Ta consists of three independent rings of wooden pillars at the lowest level. The pillars of the first ring from outside are the smallest pillars that support the lowest eaves. The inner two rings of pillars to create an enclosure by encasing into the walls and formed the foundation of Mu-Ta. No pillars are taller than one story and every story is separate and tied together by fifty-four different types of bracket sets.25 This is a different system that prevent the pagoda from falling down by earthquakes. On the other hand, the Korean pagoda is a small scale pagoda that generally built as a four-sided square stone pagoda with a height about 10 meters. Because of the material and scale, Figure 12 the concern of earthquake for Korean pagoda is unnecessary.

In conclusion, as the appearance of pagoda is the transformation from the concept of stupa in ancient Indian Buddhism into a vertical axis to represent the many levels of heavens inhabited by many Buddhas, the role of pagoda in Japanese temple complex derived from the origin to a place for worship. When the Buddhism was spread to the further east of Asia from China and finally arrived in Japan, the construction method was improved to be adequate for Japanese geographical and climatic condition. Along with the changes of construction and symbolic meaning, the pagoda in a Japanese temple complex develop its own style and decorations to demonstrate the understanding of Buddhism in their own Japanese version, which is different from both Chinese and Korean perspectives.

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“ Muta Pagoda,” John & Vera Williams, 2009, http://www.svamante.com/muta_pagoda.htm

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Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 359.

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Qihong Liu 752642

ABPL20030 2016 SEM1

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tutor: Jamie Mayers 11:00 a.m. Thursday

Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 286.

Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 290.

Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 292.

Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 358.

Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Viramaditya Prakash : A Global History of Architecture Second Edition ( America: John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 359.

‘The Buddhist World: Buddhism in East Asia’, Buddha Dharma Education Association, 2012.

J.Edward Kidder, Jr. Busshari and Fukuzo, Buddhist Relics and Hidden Repositories of Horyu-ji.

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1992 19/2-3 Eric Stratton: The Evolution of Indian Stupa Architecture in East Asia. （Vedams Books (P) Ltd, 2000），16.

Liu, Laurence G.: Chinese Architecture (New York: Rizzoli, 1989), 47.

‘Earthquake Response of Ancient Five-Story Pagoda Structure Of Horyu-ji Temple In Japan,’ Koji Nakahara, Toshiharu Hisatoku , Tadashi Nagase, Yoshinori Takahashi.(n.d.) 3.

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