y The Kaidan-do Hall z
The movement of Buddhism drastically
rose in the 740s, creating lots of
eunofficialfpriests. As a result, it became
necessary for the government to
prohibit such priests, and at the same time
it forced them to train to become
authorized priests with recognized knowledge
of Buddhist customs.
The Chinese Buddhist priest Jianzhen
came to Japan in 754 by invitation of
Emperor Shomu. In order to come to Japan,
he underwent many difficulties over 12
years and as a result, he lost his sight.
He founded the Kaidan, as a place to teach
Buddhism, in 754. The following year, the
Kaidan-do was built. After suffering
three fires, the present building was rebuilt
in 1731.
In the Kaidan-do Hall,
Shi-Tennom Four Deva Kings nare enshrined in the four
corners of the ordination platform. They
are about 1.6 meters tall, and typical
works of the middle of the 8th century.
It appears their whole bodies were painted
in the earliest days.
The Shi-Tenno images had been kept in
another building at first, but they were
later moved to Kaidan-do. It seems there
were other bronze statues in the Kaidan-do
before this, but they were destroyed during
war. The present images were brought to
take their place.
Todai-ji Map
Nara Map
