Manpuku-ji Temple
A Chinese-style Zen temple with a lot to offer
What most people have heard about Zen has come from its two main traditions in Japan: Dogen’s Soto sect and Eisai’s Rinzai sect. What many don’t know, however, is that there is a third sect – Obaku – transmitted to Japan by a Chinese priest in the early 17th century. This sect exerted a powerful influence in the revival of flagging Zen discipline during the Tokugawa (Edo) period.
Ingen (1592-1673), as the founder of Obaku Zen is known in Japan, was invited to Japan by the Shogunate and later set up his headquarters in a restored temple outside Kyoto in the town of Uji. Known as Manpuku-ji Temple, this temple is the present-day headquarters of the Obaku sect and oversees about five hundred affiliated temples. For this reason, Manpuku-ji’s temple buildings, statues and gardens are heavily influenced by the architectural style of China’s contemporary Ming Dynasty and retain a much more Chinese appearance than other Buddhist temples in Japan.
Beautiful Chinese style incense stand
Although twenty-three of the buildings are designated Important Cultural Properties, Manpuku-ji Temple is not all history. Each year there are monks in training on the grounds and there are also regular programs of zazen (meditation) that are open to the public. There is also a major Chinese style festival held here every October in which stalls are set up and a traditional lion dance is held.
Approaching the temple, Chinese architectural flavor is immediately spotted on the main gate with its double layered, pavilion like roof. A stone path leads to the majestic Sanmon Gate, the first of the main temple buildings. Continuing on the path takes you to the Tenno Hall, which houses an eye-catching statue of the deity Hotei in a style rarely seen in Japan. Hotei is the incarnation of Miroku Bodhisattva, also known as the Laughing Buddha. At the four corners of the hall are big statues of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Hotei is known as the deity of contentment and happiness
The word “manpuku” in the temple’s name means great fortune (literally, “10,000 fortunes”), but there is a homonym for this word in Japanese which also means to have a full stomach. This is an appropriate play on words since no visit to Manpuku-ji Temple would be complete without a meal of fucha ryori, or Chinese-style vegetarian food. The word “fucha” originally meant “tea for all” and probably referred to the practice of serving tea and a vegetarian meal to those who had come to a service at the Obaku temples in Ming Dynasty of China.
Fucha ryori is a Chinese version of shojin ryori traditional vegetarian dishes). It’s simpler, more elegant, and less abundant. However, this is not to say that it is not filling or tasty. There were two main differences between Japanese shojin ryori and fucha ryori. Since fucha ryori uses a lot of vegetable oil and plenty of kudzu vine starch as ingredients, fucha ryori was much more satisfying and richer in taste than shojin ryori.
A typical fucha ryori came with two types of soup and six different dishes starting with tea. Several small dishes and main dishes are served one after another. People take the food from the center of the table and place it on individual small plates to eat. Sesame tofu, stair fried vegetables, and vegetable stew are the typical items of fucha ryori.
Historically, Manpuku-ji Temple has also been the principle disseminator of a style of tea ceremony known as sencha that utilizes green tea leaves rather than the powdered tea (matcha) used by most tea schools. Consequently, the All Japan Sencha-do Association is located here and large sencha tea ceremonies are held twice a year (one of them is held in May, on the third weekend: May 20 & 21 this year).
9:00-17:00; Admission ¥500; www.obakusan.or.jp/en/
Access: To get to Manpuku-ji Temple from the city center, take an Uji-bound Keihan Railway local from either Sanjo or Gion Shijo Station. Get off at Keihan Obaku Station. It’s a five-minute walk to the temple through a shopping arcade. Or from Kyoto Station take a Nara-bound JR train and get off at Obaku Station.