Sofuku-ji, Nagasaki长崎崇福寺（妈祖堂・护法堂）
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- Japan · Nagasaki Prefecture · Nagasaki City · 7-5 Kajiya-machi
- Coordinates
- 32.7423, 129.8837 Map ↗
- First built
- 1629 (Kan'ei 6) · Founded by the Fuzhou-born monk Chaoran; an Ōbaku-sect Buddhist temple with a Mazu Hall and a Dharma-Protector Hall inside
- Heritage status
- 2 items designated Japanese National Treasures5 items designated Japanese Important Cultural Properties
Overview
Sofuku-ji was founded in 1629 by the Fuzhou-born monk Chaoran (Chōnen), and is an Ōbaku-sect Buddhist temple whose principal image is Sakyamuni; together with Kōfuku-ji and Fukusai-ji it is known as one of the "Three Fuku Temples of Nagasaki." This entry is included here because the temple houses a Mazu Hall (dedicated to Tianhou) and a Dharma-Protector Hall (dedicated to Guandi), physical evidence of how devotion to Chinese sea goddesses and martial deities spread eastward with Hokkien merchants in the era of the tōsen trade: images of Mazu carried aboard Chinese trading ships were enshrined here upon entering port. The temple holds Japan's only two national-treasure-grade buildings in Chinese style — the Daiyu Hoden (Great Hero Precious Hall, 1646) and the Daiippo-mon (First Peak Gate, 1644); the components of the Daiippo-mon were fabricated in Ningbo and shipped by sea to Nagasaki for assembly, and its bracket-set (dougong) form is rare even within China itself. The temple also holds five Important Cultural Properties designated by the national government: the Sanmon Gate (1849), the Bell and Drum Tower (1728), the Dharma-Protector Hall (1731), the Mazu Gate (1666), and a colored silk painting of the Nirvana of Sakyamuni by the Ming-dynasty painter Wu Bin (1610). It should be made clear that this is a Buddhist temple with subsidiary shrines to Daoist and folk-religion deities, not a Daoist temple.
Highlights
- The National Treasure buildings the Daiyu Hoden (1646) and the Daiippo-mon (1644)
- The Mazu Hall and the Dharma-Protector Hall
- The Mazu Gate (Important Cultural Property, 1666)
- Components prefabricated in Ningbo and shipped by sea for assembly