Japan Navigator

The Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in in Uji is so famous that it adorns one side of the 10 yen coin. The hall, with its wings and tail indeed resembling a bird, is an architectural wonder, and it is an even greater wonder that it has survived the ravages of more than nine centuries. Inside sits one of the greatest statues of Japanese Buddhism, an Amida made by the sculptor Jocho, looking with infinite compassion down upon the visitors…

[Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in Temple, Uji, Kyoto - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

Uji is embraced by mountains to the east and open to the plain on the west; the Uji River flows trough the town, coming through the mountains from Lake Biwa; the town lies halfway between Kyoto and Nara; and from early times, nobles and courtiers built their country villas in its beautiful surroundings. One of those villas was owned by Fujiwara no Michinaga, the most powerful man in Japan around the year 1000. His son Yorimichi converted the Uji villa into a temple, as a refuge for his last years. The opening ceremony was held in 1052 and the next year the Amida Hall - now known as the Phoenix Hall - was completed.

[Uji River - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

A Hall like a Phoenix
The Amida Hall faces east - the Buddha Amida was believed to reside in the west from where he appeared to guide the dead to his Paradise - towards the Uji River. It stands on a small island in the middle of a pond. It is not surprising that is was called phoenix hall: bronze phoenixes adorn both ends of the roof ridge and what is more, the hall has two winged corridors and a rear wing representing a bird’s tail, that make the whole structure look like a big bird. The Buddha hall is small for the large statue that sits inside.

Consisting of wings and tail, most of the hall is ornamental. It is a strange bird in which the Buddha resides, the bird that has carried Amida from his Western paradise to the earth. With some fantasy, the hall becomes a spaceship in which Amida has flown to us.

Originally, the temple was much more than the Phoenix Hall. There was a pagoda, a Lotus Hall, a storehouse for scriptures, and so on. These all fell victim to the wars and fires of Japan’s civil war period and it is indeed a wonder that the phoenix hall has survived the onslaught of the ages. Perhaps its name was of help: although Japanese (or Chinese) phoenixes do not arise from their ashes as the Western one, they are birds of good fortune.

[Byodo-in - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

The Buddha of the Western Paradise
The Amida statue of Byodo-in is the work of the famous priest-sculptor Jocho - in fact the only work that can with certainty be ascribed to him. The three meter high image is made by a joined-block technique that is Jocho’s invention: instead of carving a statue from one single piece of wood (as had been customary), Jocho fitted many pieces together which were then lacquered and gilded. This enabled Jocho to make larger statues than had been possible before his time.

The well-proportioned Amida sits in meditation pose and has a tranquil face. He sits under an intricate wooden canopy full of arabesques. The walls around him are decorated with small wooden Apsaras, playing various musical instruments while hovering in dance-like positions on clouds.

We have come to Byodo-in on a humid summer day, after an interval of nine years. Uji with its many teashops is as new to us; the temple is like a fresh discovery. Some things have changed for the worse: behind the Byodo-in stands a new high-rise flat, spoiling the scenery. There must surely have been other places to build this flat; we are astonished at such a failure in city planning.

[Uji tea shop - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

From the other side of the pond, we look at the hall and through the circular window above the lattice door in the center, we see the Buddha’s compassionate face looking down upon us. We feel pulled towards where he sits, to the west and enter the hall.

There are many visitors to this National Treasure and we are herded through it in groups, with a perfunctory explanation and no time for personal reflection. But as always in Japan, organization is perfect, and having recently come back from more chaotic Europe, we feel quite comfortable with this Japanese rhythm. Doors and walls of the Byodo-in were painted with representations of Amida’s paradise, but these valuable specimen of art history have been taken down and are now kept in the Treasure Hall.

In fact, the Amida Hall is rather bare today: the wood shows its age (not surprisingly), on the outside the paint has faded. We look at the pillars and beams and notice that no metal nails were used in their construction. They were made to fit exactly together and were stabilized with wooden wedges. The only other ancient building in the grounds (together with the belfry) is the Kannon Hall dating from the Kamakura period.

When we stand in front of the youngish-looking, Eleven-faced Kannon in this hall, we again feel as if we have come here for the first time. To celebrate this feeling of newness, in the Fudo Hall at the back of Byodo-in, we buy a new stamp book and have the seal of Byodo-in inscribed in it. “Amida Nyorai,” reads the seal, for Byodo-in is the domain of the compassionate Amida Buddha, who comes to meet the souls of the dead and carries them to his paradise in the western skies.

A man like Yorimichi, who built Byodo-in, tried to have Amida all for himself. The smallness of the chapel points at private prayer, not large gatherings. When dying, the rich in eleventh century Japan would attach a cord to an Amida statue or painting and hold that in their hands, as a physical assurance that Buddha would indeed pull their souls up to safety.

[At Uji River - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

In our age, there is nothing private about Byodo-in anymore and that is as it should be. The great Amida statue is for all to enjoy, everybody can share in the artistic appreciation of that wonderful hall.

We stand again on the opposite side of the pond and see the building reflected in the calm waters.

This garden is also a little piece of paradise, and the phoenix spaceship of Amida, light and transcendental, has just landed.

Address: 116 Uji Renge, Uji-shi Kyoto-fu

Tel. 0774-21-2861

Access: 15 min. on foot from Uji Station on the JR Nara Line; or about the same distance from Keihan Uji Station on the Keihan Uji Line.

Note: Combine with a walk along the river and visit to the Uji Kami Jinja (another National Treasure). Uji is one of the most famous tea producing areas of Japan and its teashops are worth visiting. Other interesting temples in the outskirts of Uji are Mimurotoji (Keihan Line) and Manpukuji (both Keihan and JR).

Note 2: Byodoin and its Amida statue have recently undergone restoration work. The temple also has set up the gorgeous Byodoin Museum ‘Hoyokan’, where the small sculptures of the music playing Apsaras can be observed from closeby. Half hidden in the earth so as not to destroy the environment, and with a modern way of display, this museum should be an example for other temples in Japan where all too often art treasures are decaying in old and musty “treasure houses.”