Kyoto. John H. Martin

      The dry landscape garden in front of the Hojo (Abbot’s quarters) at Kodai-ji.

      Yodogimi, Hideyoshi’s favorite concubine and the mother of Hideyori, died at the siege of Osaka Castle, reputedly by having one of her servants kill her so she would not fall into Ieyasu’s hands. She died despite a plea to spare her life by Ono Harunage, who had rescued Ieyasu’s granddaughter (who had been left as a hostage with Yodogimi) from the flames of Osaka Castle. After the siege of the castle and the death of its defenders, thousands of heads were placed on pikes lining the road from Fushimi to Kyoto as a warning to any prospective opponents of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

      Kodai-ji continued to exist as a Buddhist temple after the death of Kitano Mandokoro. Sanko Joeki, abbot of the Kennin-ji Temple, had been appointed as founding priest at the nunnery, and Kodai-ji has remained as one of the largest and most important subtemples of Kennin-ji since that time. Kodai-ji was damaged by a number of fires in 1789 and then, ironically, in 1863, as tension increased between the incumbent Tokugawa Shogun and those who wished to restore the Emperor to power, the temple was damaged once more. The supporters of the Imperial cause, suspecting that one of their Tokugawa opponents had taken refuge in Kodai-ji, attacked the temple and set fire to some of the buildings. Thus today only a few of the temple’s original 17th century structures still exist: the Omotemon Gate, the So-mon Gate to the nunnery, the Kaisan-do (Founder’s Hall), the Kangetsudai covered bridge and walkway, the Otamaya (Sanctuary), and the Kurakasa-tei and the Shigure-tei (two small tea houses). A new Hojo (Abbot’s quarters) was erected in 1913.

      Kodai-ji is entered through the Omote-mon Gate on its southern side, and the path leads you to the left to the ticket booth. From there you proceed ahead and then to the right behind some temple buildings toward the Kangetsu-dai (Moon Viewing Platform) and the Kaisan-do (Founder’s Hall). The Kangetsu-dai is a roofed corridor or bridge that leads over the stream between the Garyu (Dragon) Pond and the Engetsu (Crescent Moon) Pond to the Kaisan-do (Founder’s Hall). It has a small four-pillared structure in its mid-length. In this center section, when the Kangetsu-dai was located at Hideyoshi’s Fushimi Castle, Hideyoshi would sit to gaze at the moon. In the northern section of the ponds is an island in the shape of a turtle, while in the southern portion is a group of stones meant to resemble a crane, these two animals being the traditional symbols of longevity. Work on the ponds and garden was begun by the famous landscape designer Kobori Enshu in the 1620s, but the design was not perfected for another 65 years.

      A path leads alongside the garden to the front walkway to the Kaisan-do, which was dedicated to the memory of Sanko Joeki, the founding priest of Kodai-ji. To create a memorial hall befitting her temple, Kitano Mandokoro commissioned the decorating of the pillars, walls and ceiling of the Kaisan-do by leading artists from the Kano and Tosa schools of painting. The ceiling of the inner room boasts not only a dragon by Kano Eitoku (1543–90) but also the ceiling from Kitano Mandokoro’s carriage, while the ceiling of the front room contains a portion of the roof of the war junk created for use by Hideyoshi in his war against Korea and China. The inner shrine contains an image of Sanko Joeki, while the statues on either side of the steps are of Kinoshita Iesada and Unryo-in, Kitano Mandokoro’s elder brother and younger sister. The four panels of the shrine in this hall are by the noted 15th century artist Kano Motonobu.

      The Kangetsu-dai, the roofed corridor with its Moon Viewing Pavilion, which leads to the Kaisan-do from the west, is continued on the eastern side of the Kaisan-do. The corridor is named the Garyoro (Reclining Dragon Corridor) from the resemblance of its sloping roof to the back of a reclining dragon, the roof tiles having been laid in a manner that resembles the scales on the back of a dragon. (Only a short length at its far end may be entered.) If the Kaisan-do would appear to be overly decorated, it cannot match the Momoyama period splendor of the Otama-ya, the Spirit Hall or Mausoleum. A path leads from the central walkway of the Kaisan-do to the east and to the front gate of the Otama-ya, a building enclosed behind white walls. Built to the east of the Kaisan-do in 1606, it is particularly noted for its tatamaki-e (raised lacquer work), an early example of what has become known as the art of Kodai-ji-maki (lacquer). Gold lacquer artistry reached a luxurious peak in the designs in this Spirit Hall, and the walls, furniture, cabinets, altar and altar dishes are all decorated in the Kodai-ji-maki-e technique.

      The altar is truly a masterpiece of lacquer craft. Its central image of worship is that of Kannon. Instead of having the usual Bodhisattva images on either side of the main image, the Kannon in this memorial hall is flanked by two miniature shrines. The shrine on the left holds a wooden image of the seated Hideyoshi, the shrine case having designs in gold from Kitano Mandokoro’s carriage. Hideyoshi’s hat is the one sent to him by the Emperor of China. On the opposite side of the altar on the right is a wooden image of Kitano Mandokoro as a nun. The building is further embellished with paintings by Kano school artists and the classical “Thirty-six Poets” by Tosa Mitsunobu (1434–1525).

      East of the main buildings and further up the hillside are two small thatch-roofed tea houses, also from Fushimi Castle, connected by a thatch-roofed walkway. They bear the names of Shigure-tei (Shower of Rain) and Karakasa-tei (Umbrella). Shigure-tei was designed by Toyobo Sochin, a disciple of Sen-no-Rikyu, the great tea master and garden designer of the late 1500s. At the time of Hideyoshi’s 1587 tea party at the Kitano Tenman-gu shrine, to which he invited everyone to be present, even “those from China,” all the important tea masters designed tea houses which were exhibited at the tea party. Toyobo’s tea house eventually found a permanent home at Kodai-ji Temple. The Karakasatei is so-named since, from the inside of the tea house, the poles or struts supporting the thatched roof radiate from a central point at the conical peak of the roof—thereby resembling the struts of an opened umbrella from the underside. The real name of the tea house is more romantic: Ankan-kutsa (Place of Idleness).

      Northwest of the Kangetsu-dai are two small buildings, one of which is the Iho-an (Cottage of Lingering Fragrances). According to one account, it was the favorite tea ceremony house of a wealthy merchant and the courtesan Yoshino-tayu, a famed dancer and beauty who later married the merchant. Another account claims this to be an incense ceremony building, supposedly of Hideyoshi’s time. Nearby is Entoku-in, a subtemple of Kodai-ji which was once the mansion of Kinoshita Toshifusa, a nephew of Kitano Mandokoro. The Hojo (Abbot’s Quarters), rebuilt in 1913, has a landscape painting on its fusuma that is thought to be by Tohaku Hasegawa, while the garden of the Hojo lies to its north, a Momoyama dry garden with magnificent rocks from Hideyoshi’s Fushimi Castle. Among the treasures of the temple on display between November 1st and 10th each year are gold screens by Kano Motonobu (1476–1559), Kano Koi and Hasegawa Tohaku (1539–1610). Certain relics of Hideyoshi and Kitano Mandokoro remain as well, notably his writing box, her black lacquer “clothes horse” and a set of small dining trays and covered bowls, all originally from Fushimi Castle.