Yushima Seido

(Neo-)Confucian philosophy had a strong influence on Japanese education and society in general during the Edo period (filial piety, bushido 武士道 e.d.). However, the purely religious elements of Confucianism as seen in numerous temples in mainland China and Taiwan are very rare in Japan. The first Confucianist temple in Edo, the Sensei-den 先聖殿, was built in the present Ueno Park in 1632. In 1690, a bigger temple was built in Yushima, hence its name Yushima Seidō 湯島聖堂. It burned down several times and was reconstructed in 1799, but the building did not survive the 1923 Earthquake. It was rebuilt in the following decades, which explains the rather modern overall look.

According to the temple’s leaflet, this enormous statue, measuring almost 460 cm, is the biggest statue of Confucius (孔子Chinese: Kǒngzǐ, Japanese: Kōshi) in the world. It was a gift from the Taiwanese Lion’s Club in 1975.

Students come to the mail hall to pray for good results and lucky charms are sold at a very high price. In spite of the building being used for actual religious purposes to a certain extent I could not shake the feeling I was visiting a museum, rather than a temple. One has to pay an entrance fee (chains prevent visitors from entering without passing by the reception) and everything inside the main hall has a sign describing the item in a museum-like fashion. This is also the case for the offerings that look rather artificial, like a reconstruction by museum staff as it were, rather than genuine offers by believers (I even suspect the fruit offerings were made out of plastic).

A statue of a seated Confucius.

On this shelf two ihai (commemorative tablets) are enshrined. The left one is dedicated to Mencius (孟子Chinese: Mèngzǐ, Japanse: Mōshi) and the right one to Zēngzǐ (曾子 Japanese: Sōshi). In Japan ihai are most commonly found in butsudan to remember (worship?) the ancestors as a whole, but also individually. One can hardly call ancestor worship the essence of the teachings of the historical Buddha, but it is a very important part of the teachings of Confucius. Therefore, this practice has to be seen as a Chinese religious layer on top of the Buddhist teachings when they were introduced to the Japanese archipelago.