Lotus
The History of Buddhism and Its Architecture
The Word "Pagoda" - From My Survey
About Pagodas - History and Meanings : Origin - India In Japan
Beautiful Pagodas in Japan
References About me

PagodaIntroduction

More than 1300 years ago, the East Roman Empire expanded its territory in the world, and the Sui Dynasty unified China second. There were many countries and many cultures in the world, and some experienced wars while some existed peacefully. The appearance and disappearance was repeated by many countries, and the world map kept changing its borders.

In such period like that, the Japanese had a beautiful culture. They made wonderful sculptures and pictures, and then they built wonderful architecture like temples and shrines. They were built for gods, so sometimes they has unique architecture like "Pagodas." It is a remarkable high building, but originally it is not used for holding sculptures or pictures of Buddha, while other buildings were reserved for them. So, what is a pagoda? Why were they built? It has special meanings and a world view in itself.
In this paper, I define what a pagoda is: its history, its meanings, and its beauty of them.
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Pagoda The Word "Pagoda" - From My Survey

When you hear the word "Pagoda," which country do you think of? According to my survey about pagodas (Kamiya, 2002), more than half of the people think of Japan or China and that the word "pagoda" is a Japanese or Chinese word. It might be because of the sound of the word, but this is not correct. Though its origin is not definite, it is said that it came from an Indian word, and pronounced with an accent, it changed to the word pagoda. It was also said that it came from Portuguese.

A pagoda as a Buddhism architecture has its origin in India, and now we have many kinds of pagodas widely in Asia, from India and Southeast Asia to China, Korea and Japan.
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Pagoda The History of Buddhism and Its Architecture

A pagoda is a structure located on the Buddhist temple grounds. Buddhism began in India about the fourth century B.C., and it was introduced into Japan in the sixth century, through China and Korea. They taught the idea of Buddhism, a great number of texts, and how to build Buddhist architecture. It started in India, though, Japanese carpenters began to build with their original skills. In other words, they built temples combining both foreign and Japanese architecture styles. So, we can consider temples in Japan to be original in the world.
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Pagoda About Pagodas - History and Meanings

PagodaOrigin - India

Stupa
A Stupa
In Gandhara, India
Image Copyright©2002
Terufumi Akiyama
Used with Permission
A pagoda is one part of a temple's structure, and we can trace the origin of pagodas back to India.
A pagoda has its origin in old Indian culture. The Indians made pagodas as tombs, called stupa, before Buddhism began, but the shape of it was completely different from a Japanese or Chinese one. "Stupa" is from a word which means "to accumulate" in Sanskrit, which is the ancient language in India. Its shape was like a dome, and most of them were made from soil or stone. The Indians stood one pole in the center of the dome from the land to above the top of it (like an axis), and they buried bones of the cremated dead (They were mainly saints or heroes) under the pole. They thought of the pole as a symbol of the center of the universe, which collected the energy of the universe and controlled the birth of everything. A stupa showed completeness and the balance of the energy in the universe. It was representing the universe itself. People always worshiped it.
This idea was taken over in Buddhism. Buddha asked to have his bones put in a stupa after he died, so his pupils made stupas after his death. Then, they had made stupas as the symbol of the tomb of Buddha. For this reason, a stupa was the most significant structure in a temple.

People in Southeast Asia called a stupa Chaitya, which came from Indian and means the place where the holy stays and was used as a synonym with stupa. Meanwhile, it was pronounced with an accent and then pronounced that word in wrong way. It is said that the word "pagoda" came in this way. So, "pagoda" was used as the word meaning religious tall structure (like a tower) rather than meaning the fanction of it.
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PagodaIn Japan

Pagoda-Saimeiji
Saimeiji Sanju no Tou
(Three-Level Pagoda, Saimei-ji Temple)
Image Copyright©2002
My Dad
Used with Permission
In the sixth century, Buddhism came to Japan, and then Buddhism architecture was introduced with it. However, while it was coming through China or Korea, the shape of the pagoda was modified, from a dome to a several-level one, which can be seen from the word pagoda now. It was because in China they had plenty of wood and superior techniques in wooden architecture, as well as Japan, so, they built pagodas as precise structures from wood. Nishioka, a famous carpenter of Japanese traditional architecture, (1980) says in his book Horyuji that we need to build (traditional) wooden structure from high quality wood; it must be at least more than 1,000 years old, and the carpenters must be able to see the peculiarity of wood and to use them in the best suited way. Then, Japanese carpenters built them in that way with their original techniques and supreme wood taken from their land. In other words, they combined techniques which were imported and which they originally had, with the best material, and they developed them in their way as their own. So, we see it as Japanese architecture.

The shape of Pagodas was very different from the original one, but it did not necessarily lose the original meanings. We can see that from the center-pillar of it. This stands in the center of a pagoda, from under the ground to high above the top roof of a pagoda, and beautiful stones which were replacing real bones of Buddha were buried under it like in India. The part of the pillar above the top roof is called So-rin and this is the form summarizing stupa. This shows that a pagoda was thought of as Buddha tomb also in Japan.
This pillar was called Shimbashira, which literally meant the center-pillar, telling not only the center of a pagoda but also the place of Buddha. For this reason, they considered that a pagoda is the most important element in a temple. And then they thought of a pagoda as the symbol of a temple because most pagodas were the highest in a temple, and they could tell the point of a temple by pagodas. Because of this characteristic, it gradually took on a decorative role in the temple. We can see it in some temples, which have very high pagodas or more than five-level pagoda, or which has two or three (very rare) pagodas in one temple. (One temple usually has one pagoda.)
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Pagoda Beautiful Pagodas in Japan

There are many beautiful pagodas in Japan. They have exquisite structure and balance, that is, superior structural design as well as decorative. Its beauty and sacredness provide a peaceful and spacious atmosphere to visitors. I will explain why they are so beautiful and introduce some of them.

A pagoda has tall shape, it is actually a tall structure. The highest wooden pagoda in Japan is more than 54 meters (178 feet). The rate of from one-third to one-fourth in total height is So-rin. And width of roofs decrease in order from the bottom to the top. This rate of decrease of the width is larger with older pagodas. These high rate of So-rin and decrease of the width of roofs in a pagoda give it stability and ascending lightness (feeling like it heads into the high sky, not just standing on the ground).
The eaves of pagodas are very deep, more than three-fourths of a plane figure (cross section) is the eaves. This particular roofs give not only stability but also structural rhythm. And supporting these deep eaves are structures called Kumimono. They are assembled from many parts and supporting roofs together. They seem not only complicated and decorative, but work structurally very well. In additoin, we cannot forget exquisite decorative work on a pagoda. These elements are combined to create beautiful pagodas.

Pagoda Horyuji Goju no Tou
(Five-Level pagoda, Horyu-ji Temple)

Pagoda-Horyuji
Horyuji Goju no Tou
(Five-Level Pagoda, Horyu-ji Temple)
Image Copyright©2002
My Dad
Used with Permission
This pagoda is a good example representing decrease of the width of the roofs and their rhythm.
Horyuji is the oldest temple in existence in Japan. It was said to be established in the beginning of seventh century (607 A.D.), but it was said that the temple was destroyed by fire in 670 A.D. However, the belief to this temple moved people to reconstruct it. They have preserved it as well as they can; they have repaired some small parts as usual, and in addition, they have had major repairs once in several hundreds years.

For this reason, Horyuji has the oldest wooden architectures in the world now, and this pagoda is one of them. It was built in the end of seventh century. It has the center-pillar and Busshari, thought to be the bone of Buddha, is held under it. The pagoda also has plaster figures illustrating four scenes around the pillar in the first level. They show Buddhist stories in each side of the pagoda. (The figures are not the main elements because Busshari and the center pillar are the most important elements of a pagoda.)
This pagoda is about 31.5 meters (104 feet), and Horyuji is located in Nara, Japan.
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References

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