20a The Great Buddha Roshana Buddha is the principal image in the Kegon (Garland) Sutra, meaning "sun" or "light," signifying that his light permeates far and wide, without limit. All substances that exist in this world, and events that take place, are interrelated and influence each other. Nothing stands alone, cut off from the rest. All is bound together into one, and the one is joined into all. Everything portrays its shadow into one, and the one projects its light into everything. Therefore, infinite truth is expressed in one event, one substance, and in one body. This is the teaching of the Kegon (Garland) Sutra. Listening to the faith expressed in this Sutra leads to the thought that the volumes of the Age of the Gods in Record of Ancient Matters (Kojiki) and Chronicles of Japan (Nihon Shoki) are not mysterious fairy tales; they express deep philosophical meaning in an easy, simple way. The principles taught in Kegon (Garland) Sutra were such that they merged with, and substantiated the original thought of Japan. Emperor Shoumu delighted in this, and built the provincial temples and provincial nunneries. By placing the Roshana Buddha as the head of the these temples, he symbolized the profound and noble national principle of Japan: that no places and no people of Japan, living in the mountains and by the sea, are isolated; everything and every place is joined together; at the center is the Emperor, to whom the people's heart is directed; and in turn the Emperor's benevolence, like a ray of light, is projected to all the people. The Hall of the Great Buddha subsequently met with disasters, but it was rebuilt and remains to the present day. The provincial temples and provincial nunneries are generally gone, but at some places the foundation stones remain, or the memory of the institutions has been passed on in the form of place names. The sites were usually near the provincial prefecture capital. There the governor of the province resided, where the prefectural office is now located. They were called "Fuchuu (Central Provincial Office)" or "Kokufu (Provincial Capital)." For exanple, there is Fuchuu city in Musashi Province (Metropolitan Toukyou). The name "Kokufu-machi (Provincial Capital District)" is found in the Provinces of Inaba (Tottori Prefecture), Iwami (Shimane Prefecture), Awa (Tokushima Prefecture). Or, "fu" is combined with the names of the Provinces, such as "Koufu" (Province of Kai-Yamanashi Prefecture) "Houfu" (Province of Suou-Yamaguchi Prefecture) "Choufu" (Province of Nagato-Yamaguchi Prefecture). The city of Shizuoka used to be called "Sunpu" in olden days, meaning that it was the center city of Suruga Province (Shizuoka Prefecture). The temples were built not far from there, on a hill. And even though the temples vanished, the name "Kokubunji (Provincial Temple)" was often retained. Tracing the name, we understand that they were built as far southwest as in the Province of Ohsumi (Kagoshima Prefecture), Satsuma (Kagoshima Prefecture), and in Iki and Tsushima Islands. And in the northeast, the Province of Mutsu (Miyagi Prefecture) and Dewa (Yamagata Prefecture). In one aspect, this was the dissemination of culture. As the same time, it was political centralization. The Great Buddha, as the center, joined firmly all places in the nation, symbolizing that they were inseparable. People must have been moved most deeply by this. One of most precious treasures of the nation that came from Emperor Shoumu's construction of the Toudaiji-Temple is the preservation of the treasures in Shousouin Storehouse. "Shousou" means "Main Storehouse" and "in" refers to the area demarcated from the outside world by a surrounding fence. There must have been Shousouin Storehouses attached to other temples, but none were preserved. Therefore the word "Shousouin" now refers only to the one at the Toudaiji-Temple. This Toudaiji-Temple met with many disasters. In particular, when Taira no Shigehira (1156-1185) attacked the Temple in 1180, the main Buddha Hall was burnt down. Yet Shousouin remained untouched. The archtecture is in the famous "azekura" style, which controls humidity superbly. It is 33 meters on the north-south front. The side are 9 meters each. The height is 13 meters, and there is a space of 2.4 meters from the ground to the floor, which prevents humidity from the earth from penetrating into the storehouse. Inside the storehouse, there are three compartments. The middle compartment is made of wood, but both ends are "azekura" style where the walls are made by triangular wooden timbers which arwe fitted together in a crisscross manner. The wooden timbers expand and shrink according to the levels of humidity. Thus on dry days they shrink and air passes through; on rainy days they expand and seal out humidity. That was why materials stored there were preserved without spoilage, along with he building. It is like a dream that the treasure of 1200 years ago were stored and passed on to the present day. There are no such cases in foreign countries. This Shousouin, which used to belong to the Toudaiji-Temple, is now managed by the Imperial Palace Agency. It stores 9000 artifacts, starting with those which Empress Koumyou (701-760) presented to the Great Buddha for the repose of the soul of Emperor Shoumu, when ne passed away in 756. There are scrrens, mirrors, brushes and ink-wells for calligraphy, plates and bowls, crowns, combs, Biwa-guitars, Shakuhachi flutes, swords, bows and arrows, paintings, woven material. They make us realize how high the level of civilization was, and how broad the realm of international cultual exchange was in Japan at that time.

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