🪚🪵 🤯OKAME🤔📏✨
In the grounds of Daihōon-ji (大報恩寺) is a large statue of a plump-cheeked woman holding a 'masugumi' (斗ぐみ), a type of wooden bracket used in construction.
Her name is Okame (阿亀), best known today for getting her husband out of a sticky situation🙄
#folklore
In his will Fujiwara-no-Mitsutaka (藤原光隆 1127-1201) bequeathed his old residence to the Tendai monk Gikū (義空), grandson of Fujiwara-no-Hidehira (藤原秀衡 1033-1187).
By 1221 Gikū had erected a small worship hall to Buddha and his 10 principal disciples.
#Daihoonji #Kyoto
Constructing temples was an expensive business, and for a while Gikū could not afford to erect a larger worship hall.
The pillars needed to support such a hall cost far beyond what he had saved.
But then, in 1223, fate intervened.
Together they visited Jōkon's lumber yard. The monk went about touching various pieces of wood, which then began to glow with the emblazoned name of Daihōon-ji (大報恩寺). All at once the dream was over and Jōkon awoke to darkness. Spooked, he immediately set off for Kyōto.
#Kyoto
Upon reaching Daihōon-ji, Jōkon introduced himself to Gikū (promising him lumber) and was given a tour of the construction site.
Inside the temporary worship hall Jōkon was astonished see that one statue looked exactly like the dream monk!
The temple's troubles were not over. By 1227 construction of the main hall was well underway when the head carpenter discovered that his calculations were incorrect.
1 of the central 4 pillars (made from Jōkon's gift) had been cut too short to support the height of the roof!
A previous Governor of Hida Province, Nagai Takatsugu was a noted carpenter, with a workshop on Nishinotōin-dōri Ichijō (西洞院通一条の名大工/長井飛騨守高次).
Such a mistake would not only ruin him, but bankrupt the temple.
And he would have been ruined, were it not for his wife.
As is typical for many historical women, we know very little about Okame (阿亀 ?-1227).
We know she was Nagai Takatsugu's wife, and we know it is thanks to her that the main hall could be completed.
Her solution to the problem was simple: add flying brackets to the pillar tops.
Masugumi (斗組), decorative supporting brackets, had been used on external architecture before, but never inside.
Okame suggested the brackets fill the gap between pillar and roof (the 3 other pillars were cut down to the height of the 4th).
Construction could be completed.
So what happened to Okame?
Well she died of course😐😔😡
To prevent the story ever leaking out that she had saved the day (and her husband's reputation) she killed herself.
But the story did leak out, and I like to think that Nagai proudly told everyone what his wife had done.
The Okame Mound (おかめ塚) was created in 1979.
Considered to be an example of the perfect wife, Okame has become symbol of a harmonious marriage (and feminine beauty). Her mask is used to this day as decoration during the ceremony to mark completion of a building's framework.
It's a miracle that the original hall survived to this day.
Yamana Sōzen (山名宗全), leader of the Western Camp in the Ōnin War (応仁文明の乱 1467-77), protected the temple (his grandfather was buried here).
It was one of only a few buildings in Kyōto to survive the conflict.
The hall may have survived the 10 year civil conflict, but inside many of the pillars are scarred with sword marks (still visible).
It shows how violent fighting was in the Ōnin War. There were running battles not only through the temple grounds, but through its actual buildings!
You can also see bullet marks from the running battles that haunted Kyoto in the run up to the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration.
When you consider how violent this fighting was, it is a surprise that the building is still standing.
Maybe Okame is protecting the hall still.
