Toganji Temple 桃巌寺

Toganji Temple (桃巌寺), in the Motoyama area of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, dates from the sixteenth century and includes an impressive 15m high statue of the seated Buddha painted in a vivid green color.

Toganji, a Soto Zen sect temple of Japanese Buddhism, has many links to India as one of the high priests of the temple completed his studies in Buddhism there.

Toganji Temple's grounds contain a Shiva-Lingam and a shrine dedicated to the Goddess Saraswati, who is honored in a Benzaiten Festival every May 7-8.

Toganji also contains a huge wood block said to purge past sins if touched with one hand. Toganji's lovely temple grounds, though small, also contain a Chinese-style gate, an ancient pine tree and a thick, bamboo grove.

Toganji Temple, Motoyama, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya.

Toganji Temple was first built in 1532 by local Owari warlord Oda Nobunaga in honor of his father Nobuhide. The temple is named after Nobuhide's posthumous Buddhist name.

Toganji Temple moved to its present location in 1714.

The temple is entered through a narrow path that turns to the left through the Chinese gate. Descend a set of stone stairs and you will see the sitting Buddha image on your left. The pedestal of the image is decorated with Indian-style Buddhist iconography. A large bronze hand is also a striking detail of this pleasant garden space.

Hindu Vedic ideas were taken to Japan by the sea route from South India much before Buddhism Over 20 Hindu deities are actively worshipped in Japan Do you know there is a town in Japan which is named after Goddess Lakshmi? pic.twitter.com/oUIqPt3pyE — Satyaagrah (@satyaagrahindia) January 27, 2023

Bharatwaja Hinduism Gods in Japan Religion

Information about Sanatan Dharma is very difficult to obtain in two countries - Japan and China and there are three factors responsible for this.

One is that these cultures are ancient and their philosophy and religious literature is, as in Hinduism cloaked in allegory.

The third reason is the influence of Buddhism and its offshoot in the later stages in Japan.

In the case of China, the advent of Communism ensured that the information is suppressed.

In this article, the influence of Sanatana Dharma on  Religion in Japan, Japanese language.

What strikes one is the use of Hindu Gods’ names.

Ganesha in a 8th century Japanese temple! Thousands of miles from Bharat's mainland we can still find the relics of Sanatan Dharma This is 1200 years old and in Daishō-in on Mt.Misen, the holy mountain on the island of Itsukushima, Japan pic.twitter.com/tdxz899lI8 — Satyaagrah (@satyaagrahindia) January 27, 2023

Common Terms: Sanskrit/Chinese/Japanese

Archarya – Master Achali Ajari
Dharma – Law FA Ho
Pratima – movement warrior techniques of the Hindu ksatreyas Hsing
Kata
Sunyatapani –  Tang-Shou Karate/To De
Dharmahasta  Chuan Fe Kempo
Marga – The Way Tao  Do
Guhya-Sutra Mi-Ching Mikkyo
Nagarjuna Lung Shu Ryuju/Ryusho/Ryumyo
Mudra – ritual gesture  Yin In
Mandala a special zone or area Mantolo Mandara
Vajramukti  Ching Kang, Chieh T’o Kongogedastsu
Sangha – congregation or group followers Seng So
Narya – strong or manly Na-Li Nara, Naha
Nata  Na-Pa, Na-Ra Nara, Napa, Nafa
Yoga – to yoke Yui Cha Yu Ga”

Ganesha is worshiped as Shoten or Shoden (Holy God) in Buddhist Temples.

Saraswati is worshiped as Benten.

Visvakarma, the Divine Architect of Hinduism is called Bishukatsuma is the God of Carpenters.

Yama, the God of Death in Hinduism is Emma- O, the King of Hell.

Samudra Manthan, Churning of the Ocean of Milk in Japan.

Sanskrit mantras in Japan are written in Siddham script of South India 5th century Siddham script, which has disappeared in India, is still in use in Japan. At Koyasan, they still have a school where Sanskrit is taught with Siddham Sidddham Sanskrit script on Japanese tombs pic.twitter.com/WjA6EuMhxV — Satyaagrah (@satyaagrahindia) January 27, 2023

“According to author Donald A. Mackenzie: “The Indian form of the myth of the Churning of the Milky Ocean reached Japan. In a Japanese illustration of it the mountain rests on a tortoise, and the supreme god sits on the summit, grasping in one of his hands a water vase. The Japanese Shinto myth of creation, as related to the Ko-ji-ki and Nihon-gi, is likewise a churning myth. Twin deities, Izanagi, the god, and Izanami, the goddess, sand on “the floating bridge of heaven” and thrust into the ocean beneath the “Jewel Spear of Heaven”. With this pestle, they churn the primeval waters until they curdle and form land.” - (source: Myths of Pre-Columbian America – By Donald A. Mackenzie p.190-191).

The distinguished Japanese scholar, Mr. J. Taka Kusu, says: ” But I should like to emphasize the fact that the influence of India, material and intellectual, must have been much greater in an earlier period than we at present consider to have been the case. There were, for instance, several Indians, whom the Kuroshiwo current, washing almost the whole southern coast, brought to the Japanese shore.”

He further says, ” It cannot be denied that several Indians came to Japan, especially in view of so many Indians finding their way to China by sea.”

He then relates how a Brahmin Bodhisen Bharadvaja, known generally as the “Brahmin Bishop” came with another priest from India via Champa (Cochin China) to Osaka, then to Nara, where they met another Indian ascetic and taught Sanskrit to the Japanese. “His monastery and tombstone, with a written eulogy, still exist in Nara. Just at the time a Japanese alphabet or syllables is said to have been invented. The fifty syllables, Gojuin, are arranged by a hand, evidently with a practical knowledge of Sanskrit method.”

Hinduism and Buddhism went from India to China and Korea to Japan. Images of Ganesha and Vishnu have been found throughout Japan. Numerous Buddhist deities were introduced into Japan and many of these are still very popular.

According to D. P. Singhal, "some Hindu gods, who had been incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon, were amongst them. For example, Indra, originally, the god of thunder but now also the king of gods, is popular in Japan as Taishaku (literally the great King Sakra); Ganesha is worshipped as Sho-ten or Shoden (literally, holy god) in many Buddhist temples, and is believed to confer happiness upon his devotees. A sea serpent worshipped by sailors is called Ryujin, a Chinese equivalent of the Indian naga. Hariti and Dakini are also worshipped, the former as Kishimo-jin, and the latter by her original name. Bishamon is a Japanese equivalent of the Indian Vaisravana (Kubera), the god of wealth.

Even Shinto adopted Indian gods, despite its desperate efforts after the Meiji Revolution to disengage itself from Buddhism. The Indian sea god Varuna is worshipped in Tokyo as Sui-ten (water god); the Indian goddess of learning, Saraswati, has become Benten (literally, goddess of speech), with many shrines dedicated to her along sea coasts and beside lakes and ponds. Shiva is well known to the Japanese as Daikoku (literally, god of darkness), which is a Chinese and Japanese equivalent of the Indian Mahakala, another name for Shiva. Daikoku is a popular god in Japan. At the Kotohira shrine on the island of Shikoku, sailors worship a god called Kompera, which is a corruption of the Sanskrit word for crocodile, Kumbhira. The divine architect mentioned in the Rig Veda, Vishvakarma, who designed and constructed the world, was regarded in ancient Japan as the god of carpenters, Bishukatsuma. The Indian Yama, the god of death, is the most dreaded god of Japan, under the name of Emma-o, the king of hell.

The Indian deities are worshipped in Japan with essentially the same attributes, though there are some interesting and colourful modifications As an instance, in Japan Ganesha is offered radishes which he is very fond of pic.twitter.com/1IQbLNZ1G2 — Satyaagrah (@satyaagrahindia) January 27, 2023

According to author Donald A. Mackenzie: "The Indian form of myth of the Churning of the Milky Ocean reached Japan. In a Japanese illustration of it the mountain rests on a tortoise, and the supreme god sits on the summit, grasping in one of his hands a water vase. The Japanese Shinto myth of creation, as related in the Ko-ji-ki and Nihon-gi, is likewise a churning myth. Twin deities, Izanagi, the god, and Izanami, the goddess, sand on "the floating bridge of heaven" and thrust into the ocean beneath the "Jewel Spear of Heaven". With this pestle they churn the primeval waters until they curdle and form land." - (source: Myths of Pre-Columbian America - By Donald A. Mackenzie p.190-191).

The climbers wearing traditional white dresses, who scale the sacred Mount Ontake as a religious observance, sometimes have inscribed on their robes Sanskrit Siddham characters of an ancient type. Sometimes they put on white Japanese scarfs (tenugui) which carry the Sanskrit character OM, the sacred syllable of the Hindus.

According to Terence Dukes, "The Gagaku dances of Japan contain many movements derived from the Indian Nata and the Chinese Chuan Fa."

(source: The Boddhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy, History, and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and China p.206).

The cultivation of cotton in Japan is traced to an Indian who had drifted to the shore of Aichi Prefecture in 799. To commemorate the event, the Japanese named the village where the shipwrecked Indian had landed Tenjiku; Tenjiku was the Japanese name for India, and means Heaven.

The popular Japanese game of sunoroku or sugoroku (backgammon played at the royal of the Nara rulers and still popular in Japan is of Indian origin. In Japan the game is played as nard. Nard is generally regarded as an Iranian game, but the ninth century Arab scholar, Al Yaqubi, considered nard an Indian invention used to illustrate man's dependence on chance and destiny. According to Wei-Shu, sugoroku was brought to China in ancient times from Hu country, which at that time meant a country somewhere in the vicinity of India. Again, as Karl Himly has pointed out, the Hun Tsun, Sii, written during the Sung period (960-1279), states that t'shu-pu, another Chinese name for sugoruku, was invented in western India, that it was known in its original form as chatushpada, and that it reached China during the Wei period (220-265).

There is some Indian influence on Japanese art. A similarity between Shinto rituals and Hindu rituals (for example ringing the bell as one enters the temple).  Narushima (Narasimha) Bishamondo is a famous temple in Japan. - (source: India and World Civilization - Dr. D. P. Singhal).

The influence of Indian thought and culture on Japan was very great. Maurice Winternitz, while reviewing Geschichte der Japanischen Literature, says:

"In view of so much Indian influence in Japanese literature, it is possible to assume that the 'Keuyogen' or double meaning of Japanese poetry may in any way be connected with that form of Alankara of the Indian Kavya, which is exactly in the same method."

The distinguished Japanese scholar, Mr. J. Taka Kusu, says: " But I should like to emphasize the fact that the influence of India, material and intellectual, must have been much greater in an earlier period than we at present consider to have been the case. There were, for instance, several Indians, whom the Kuroshiwo current, washing almost the whole southern coast, brought to the Japanese shore." He further says, " It cannot be denied that several Indians came to Japan, especially in view of so many Indians finding their way to China by sea."

He then relates how a Brahmin Bodhisen Bharadvaja, known generally as the "Brahmin Bishop" came with another priest from India via Champa (Cochin China) to Osaka, then to Nara, where they met another Indian ascetic and taught Sanskrit to the Japanese. "His monastery and tombstone, with a written eulogy, still exist in Nara. Just at the time a Japanese alphabet or syllables is said to have been invented. The fifty syllables, Gojuin, are arranged by a hand, evidently with a practical knowledge of Sanskrit method. - (source: Journal of Royal Asiatic Society for 1905, p. 872-873)

The official record of Japan, Nihon-ki and Ruijukokushi describe how cotton was introduced in Japan by two Indians who reached Japan in July 799 and April 800 A.D.

(For more refer to Vide Dr. Taka Kusu's  "What Japan owes to India" in the Journal of the Indo-Japanese Association for January 1910).

It is noteworthy that some of the scriptures of the Japanese priests preserved in the Horyuji Temple of Japan are written in Bengali characters of the eleventh century. - (source: Daito Shimaji's " India an Japan in Ancient Times," in the Journal of Indo-Japanese Association for January 1910).

References:

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