Gohyaku Rakan temple

Who were the people called 'Gohyaku Rakan'? 

The founder of Buddhism, 'Shaka' had a great many of his disciples. Facing his death, his disciples gathered by his sickbed, and he died under the watchful eyes of his disciples. 'Gohyaku Rakan' were the five hundreds disciples who gathered and were allowed to enter the meeting place. That was a huge cave where at least five hundred people entered and discussed. They discussed and determined to develop the teachings of Buddhism. So, 'Rakan' means the immediate disciples of 'Shaka'. And they were very important people in Buddhism sect.


Gohyau Rakan 

Five hundred arhats 'rakan', a Buddhist art subject developed in China featuring large numbers of Indian wise men usually accompanied by servants. The origin of the grouping is unknown, although several Chinese texts mention 'rakan' as protective saints, who guard the Buddhist law until the coming of 'Miroku', the Buddha of the Future. The Chinese belief that Five hundred arhats inhabited a peak beyond the Stone Bridge 'Shakkyou' on 'Mt.Tiantai' is probably an adaptation into popular Buddhism of Taoist legends about the locale as the home of immortals. Tang period Chinese were also familiar with Indian legends of five hundred arhats believed to live on 'Mt. Buddhavanagirl' near 'Rajagrha'. It is not clear whether the number '500' refers to 500 specific individuals or simply indicates a large number. (from JAANUS)
If you're interested in, please check JAANUS in the Internet directly.

Inside of the Gohyaku Rakan Dou

There isn't detailed information here, but making statues of 'Rakan' people was started during the Kamakura period, around eight hundreds years ago. This trend was imported among the 'Zen' sect people of Buddhism from China. 

We suppose the existence of many disciples makes other new followers understand the high priority of this sect. Five hundreds immediate disciples of 'Shaka' was persuasive for the ordinary people, because 'five hundreds' makes them imagine 'many'. Then, it acted a very important role for the sect. 

On the contrary, founding new 'Gohyaku Rakan' temples was a very hard trial for the founder. Because of realistic problems such as hard working to produce five hundreds of statues and much amount of funds to pay. There are many 'Gohyaku Rakan' temples in Japan, but the ratio of them is small compared with the whole amount of temples. Please imagine, supplying five hundreds of statues were really difficult for someone who intended. 

Outside of the Gohyaku Rakan dou

The Tenneiji temple was a 'Zen' sect temple, and founded by the Ii clan who was a rural lord of Hikone district. He did one mistake that he ordered to kill a retainer who was estimated guilty, but later was proved not guilty. With his great regret, he built this temple for her peace of the dead soul. Because she had been pregnant with his son's child when she had been killed. The relationship between the fact and the reason why 'Gohyaku Rakan' was chosen is in the sealed book named history. 

This 'Gohyaku Rakan' was made two hundreds years ago. So, they are not so old in the historical range. However, five hundreds of statues are quite mysterious. 

When you want to visit this temple, you can use JR Biwako line and get off at Hikone station. It is the same route to the Hikone castle. From the station, it takes approximately 1 kilometer. So, maybe you should not use any public transportation. This temple locates the opposite side of the castle sandwiched JR line.