YAMADADERA (Jodoji)




Jodoji Sakurai-shi.Yamada

Construction of this large temple was begun in 641 (the 13th year of Emperor Jomei's reign) by Soga-no-Kurayamada Ishikawamaro, a cousin of Soga-no-Iruka. It was one of the clan temples (ujidera) the construction of which was then in vogue among the various wealthy families of the time. Although Ishikawamaro participated in the Taika coup d'etat (which involved the murder of his cousin Iruka) and was subsequently appointed Minister of the Right (udaijin), in 649 (Taika 5) he came under suspicion for allegedly plotting rebellion. The same year he committed suicide in the still unfinished clan temple. He was posthumously absolved of the earlier suspicions, and the building of the Yamadadera was continued with help from the imperial house and completed in the latter half of the 7th century. The Yamadadera is thought to have had a ground plan with gate, pagoda, golden hall and lecture hall arranged in a line from south to north, respectively.

| golden hall foundation stratum| pagoda foundation (from south)| golden hall (from west)| corridor| pagoda foundation (from west)| golden hall (from northwest)| fusyo| onigawara| roof tile|


golden hall remains
east corridor roof tile pile

commanding a view of
excavation
pagoda (from south)


buddha head
from the yamadadera 		BUDDHA HEAD FROM THE YAMADADERA

The image of Nyorai (the historical Buddha) which was completed in 685 (the 14th year of Tenmu's reign) and served as the main object of worship in the Yamadadera lecture hall was in 1186 transferred to the east golden hall of the Kofukuji in Nara. Later it was caught in a fire disaster and only the head remained. Drawing on early Tang influences, ft exhibits such characteristic features of early Hakuho Period Buddhist images as the bright expression and boyish countenance, the eyebrows drawn out in a long arc, and the elongated narrow eyes.The boddihisattvas which stand today on both sides of the main image of worship in the Kofukuji east golden hall were originally the lateral attendant figures for this image when it stood in the Yamadadera. After the beginning of the latter half of the 7th century, such large-scale 3piece displays (sanzonbutsu), in which the attendant figures assume a considerable degree of independence, came to be created in large number, even in clan temples.
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Copyright (c) 1995 ASUKA HISTORICAL MUSEUM All Rights Reserved.
Any request to kakiya@lint.ne.jp
Authoring: Yasuhito Kakiya

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