Letter by Mokujiki Ohgo
- Person
-
作者木食応其
- Date
-
制作年 AD16
- Title
- モクジキオウゴヒツショジョウ
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) Campus Mita
Mokujiki Ohgo (1536-1608) was a Buddhist monk of Mt. Koya during the Momoyama Period. He was originally a samurai (warrior) belonging to the Sasaki clan in Ohmi (Shiga Prefecture) but shaved his head at age 38 in 1573. He imposed on himself a rigorous Buddhist ritual, foregoing the eating of grains and living on berries alone. He won the admiration of the people and was often called Mokujiki Shonin, or High Priest Mokujiki.. Mt. Koya escaped attacks by Nobunaga but faced Toyotomi Hideyoshi after he crushed the soldier monks and commoners’ rebellion at Negoroji Temple. Ohgo was then sent to negotiate with Hideyoshi, representing Mt. Koya, and was successful in saving it from destruction. After this encounter, Hideyoshi became a devout follower and helped to revitalize Mt. Koya. Instrumental in the renewed glory of Mt. Koya (of course the temples located there), Ohgo was later nicknamed Kozan Shonin (lit. “high priest for the rebirth of Mt. Koya”). Thereafter, upon Hideyoshi’s order, Ohgo was dispatched to various parts of Japan to erect temples. According to an undocumented tale, the number of such temples reached 97. But the most famous one was Daibutsu Hall (Hall of the Great Buddha) of Hokoji Temple in Higashiyama, Kyoto, built by Hideyoshi. Therefore, Ohgo is often nicknamed Daibutsu Shonin (lit. “high priest of the huge Buddha statue”). In his last years, Ohgo retired from Mt. Koya and lived a secluded life at Handoji Temple near Ohmi and died there at age 73.This letter refers to the dedication dance and music of the Eye-Opening Ceremony for the Buddha statue celebration in Daibutsu Hall at Hokoji Temple. During the great earthquake of 1596, which hit Kyoto, the Great Buddha was shaken to pieces. In its place, the statue of Amitabha was brought in from Zenkoji Temple in Shinano (Nagano Prefecture) for hold the aforesaid ceremony. Ohgo was the central figure in all of these arrangements and ceremony. This letter, written in preparation of the sacred dance and music, is addressed to Ohno Tadakatsu (?-1601), who was working in the Imperial Music Department. The letter invites musicians from the palace, Tennoji Temple, and Kofukuji Temple. Four days before this letter was sent, the Imperial Palace held a memorial service for Yokoin, the father of the reigning Emperor Goyozei, so the musicians were still staying in Kyoto, a happy coincidence for Ohgo. He was 63 then. The writing is full of energy and shows Ohgo’s confidence and role as the key figure in charge of everything.
猶々三ケ所ヘ以別帋可申候ヘ共今度 禁中御八講幸皆々上洛之由候間大仏殿供養儀何方へも被相催候て可給候以上八月廿二日ニ可致執行由太閤様被仰出候条舞楽可在之御法事ニ候間京都南都天王寺何茂三箇所江被相催無余日事候早々御用意肝要候委様子者薮殿より可被仰渡候へ共先従内證申遣候恐々謹言大仏木食興山上人七月廿八日応其（花押）多上野介殿御宿所
Overview
Rights
Depository and ID
Components
OPEN DATADESIGN
Keio Object Hub makes data on cultural objects open and tries designing various experiences using open data.
Details
Identifiers
- Title (EN)
- Letter by Mokujiki Ohgo
Physical description
- Weights and quantities
-
Quantity 1幅
As a prototype feature, the Keio Object Hub uses AI (machine learning) to generate keywords for searches and filtering.
For the first launch, Google Cloud's Vision API will be used to analyze the images of each object and automatically generate keywords.