Obaku culture flowered colorfully in Edo-period Japan.

What is Obaku culture?

 Obaku culture comprised various elements of late-Ming to early-Qing Chinese culture introduced to Japan after the arrival of Ingen, the founder of the Obaku school of Buddhism.
It contributed immensely to the development of Japanese culture in the Edo period, making massive impacts on a broad range of fields, from academic and cultural fields—architecture, literature, music, calligraphy, painting, sculpture, printing, medicine, etc.—to the lifestyles of ordinary people, including food, clothing, and housing.
These elements of Obaku culture have since been deeply rooted in the culture and lives of people in Japan.

Gastronomy

 The common bean, which in Japan is called the “Ingen bean” after the Zen master, is now an indispensable ingredient of Japanese dishes. It is said that Ingen introduced to Japan not only common beans but also various other agricultural products, such as watermelons, lotus roots, and bean sprouts.

インゲン豆

Common beans (“Ingen beans” in Japan)

寒天

Agar

Dining table

 In Edo-period Japan, meals were served to each person on a footed tray. However, after dining tables were introduced from China along with Chinese-style Obaku-school vegetarian cuisine called “Fucha cuisine,” a new style of having meals at a table together spread among people in Japan.

食卓を囲む大田南畒ら

Ota Nanpo having a meal with others at a table, from Ryoritsu, an Edo-period cookbook
(licensed under CC BY-SA; from the collection of the National Institute of Japanese Literature, a National Institute for the Humanities)

Habit of having sencha (extract from tea leaves infused in hot water)

 The habit of drinking tea was introduced from China to Hirado, Nagasaki, by Eisai, the founder of the Rinzai school of Buddhism, in 1191, and spread throughout Japan. However, the word “tea” here meant a mixture of powder of dried steamed tea leaf blocks (dancha) or powdered tea leaves (hikicha) in hot water, and the habit of enjoying this kind of tea was exclusive to a limited number of people, mainly those with political power or of significant influence.
To Japan in such a situation, Ingen and others introduced the habit of having sencha, a new kind of tea made by infusing dried tea leaves in hot water. This new style of having tea spread not only among Zen priests but also to teahouses on the streets and ordinary people, thereby facilitating the development of a new kind of tea ceremony called “sencha-do” and Japanese confectionery. Afterward, Gekkai, an Obaku-school priest in the mid-Edo period nicknamed “Baisao” (lit. the “Venerable Tea Vendor”), served sencha tea at various places in Kyoto, playing an important role in getting sencha deeply rooted in Japan.

料理通

From Ryoritsu
(licensed under CC BY-SA; from the collection of the National Institute of Japanese Literature, a National Institute for the Humanities)

かぎやおせん

Osen of the Kagiya (by Kitao Shigemasa; an image from the Tokyo National Museum (TNM) Image Archives)
Osen, a waitress at the teahouse Kagiya, was so popular that she inspired Kyogen and Kabuki plays.

Fucha cuisine

 Fucha cuisine is a style of cuisine introduced from China to Japan by Ingen and other Obaku-school priests. It is Chinese-style vegetarian cuisine using no ingredients containing animal protein, such as animal or fish meat. Fucha dishes, made with extremely sophisticated cooking techniques, are characterized by the use of a large amount of oil. Fucha cuisine is one of the origins of Shippoku cuisine, a blend of various cookery styles unique to Nagasaki.
 Fucha cuisine spread over Japan as Obaku-school priests expanded their scope of activities to the region around the imperial capital and then to Edo. In addition to being served at Obaku-school temples, Fucha dishes later began to be served at restaurants on the streets and became popular among ordinary people.

普茶料理(聖福寺)

Fucha meal served at Shofukuji Temple

普茶料理(萬福寺)

Fucha meal served at Manpukuji Temple

普茶料理

Fucha meal in the Edo period, from Ryoritsu
(licensed under CC BY-SA; from the collection of the National Institute of Japanese Literature, a National Institute for the Humanities)

胡麻豆腐

Sesame tofu

普茶料理(興福寺)

Fucha meal served at Kofukuji Temple

Shippoku cuisine

 Shippoku cuisine originated in Nagasaki as a new style of cuisine served to each group of people at a table. A Shippoku meal comprises Japanese, Western, and Chinese dishes served together. With many books about Shippoku cuisine published in 18th-century Japan, this new cookery style spread so widely that even ordinary people in rural villages knew about it around the early 19th century.
 Kuriyama Zenshiro, the owner of Yaozen, a luxury restaurant in Edo, even went on a long journey to Nagasaki to learn Shippoku cuisine and wrote Chapter 4 devoted to Shippoku cuisine and Fucha cuisine of the book Edo Ryuko Ryoritsu, which concerns popular dishes in Edo. This fact suggests that, although there were many Shippoku restaurants in urban areas, such as Edo, Kyoto, and Ozaka, Shippoku cuisine served in Nagasaki, its place of origin, was special after all.

卓袱料理

Shippoku meal

長崎丸山において清客卓子料理を催す図

“Serving a Shippoku meal to a Chinese guest in Maruyama, Nagasaki,” from Ryoritsu
(licensed under CC BY-SA; from the collection of the National Institute of Japanese Literature, a National Institute for the Humanities)

Fashion

Priests’ robes

 Obaku-school priests were wearing different kinds of kesa and hoe robes from those worn by priests in other Buddhist schools. To other people in those times, Obaku-school priests’ robes seemed very cool. Therefore, Zen priests in other schools, including the Rinzai and Soto schools, and even Kabuki actors dressed in imitation of Obaku-school priests.
 The great surprise of the Tokugawa shogunate at the enormous influence of Obaku-school priests caused the ruler to ban Obaku-school priests from strolling around Edo in 1673.

「祖師源流図(部分)」山本若麟 興福寺蔵

Part of Soshi Genryu-zu (“Patriarchs of Zen Buddhism”) by Yamamoto Jakurin, from the collection of Kofukuji Temple

Kabuki costumes

In the Edo period, Kabuki actors served as fashion trend setters by incorporating novel elements in their costumes. Their styles of dressing were copied by ordinary people, resulting in the spread of a new fashion trend. A kind of Kabuki costume called “yoten,” a slightly short robe with slits on both sides of its hem and without okumi (a gusset sewn in the front panel), was created as a new costume inspired by robes of Obaku-school priests.

四天を身につけた歌舞伎役者

Ukiyo-e by Utagawa Toyokuni III depicting the Kabuki actor Seki Sanjuro III in a yoten robe playing the part of Inukai Genpachi, from the collection of The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University

Ingen-style headscarves

In the Edo period, a kind of headscarf shaped like a kimono sleeve was in vogue. This kind of headscarf, designed for the wearer to look ahead through its sleeve opening, was broadly called the “okoso zukin” (okoso-style headscarf) but was also referred to as the “Ingen zukin” (“Ingen headscarf”).

 

※ The word “okoso” means a Buddhist priest who has founded a sect or school. This may mean that people in the Edo period most often associated the word “okoso” with Ingen.

隠元頭巾とよばれるお高祖頭巾(袖頭巾)(画像提供:風俗博物館)

Okoso-style (sleeve-shaped) headscarf also known as an “Ingen headscarf”
(Courtesy of Costume Museum)

Religion

The Obaku school chanted Sanskrit and Chinese sutras in a unique style and used unique kinds of instruments (mokugyo woodblocks, long-handled bowl-shaped bells, copper bowls, small hand drums, large cymbals, and copper gongs) in sutra chanting. These distinctive features attracted the close attention of other people, including many priests in other schools. Some priests in other Buddhist schools even chanted sutras in Chinese or changed their Buddhist names to Obaku-style ones.

 

※Mokugyo woodblocks, which are used widely today when Buddhist sutras are chanted, are thought to have been introduced to Japan by the Obaku school.

木魚と引磬『黄檗清規』京都 萬福寺蔵

A mokugyo woodblock and a long-handled bowl-shaped bell depicted in Obaku Shingi, from the collection of Manpukuji Temple, Kyoto

銅鑼鼓と大鐃鉢鈸『黄檗清規』 京都 萬福寺蔵

A copper gong and a pair of large cymbals depicted in Obaku Shingi, from the collection of Manpukuji Temple, Kyoto

Architecture

Chinese temples in Nagasaki and Manpukuji Temple in Uji, Kyoto, featured the distinctive layout and design of buildings, including halls, pagodas, and gates, modeled after that of temples in Ming China. They were characterized, for example, by hall buildings or their eaves painted in red, peach and bat motifs, arched ceilings called “Obaku ceilings” (corniced ceilings), and the arrangement of a gate and the main hall that were not centered at the same point. This unique style of architecture created a new, exotic landscape in Japan.

 

木魚と引磬『黄檗清規』京都 萬福寺蔵

Obaku ceiling

銅鑼鼓と大鐃鉢鈸『黄檗清規』 京都 萬福寺蔵

Layout of the buildings at Sofukuji Temple from the Illustrated Report of Restored Buildings in Nagasaki Prefecture
A gate and the main hall are not centered at the same point.

Art

Painting

 The introduction of Obaku-school Buddhism to Japan triggered the origination of a new school of painting that was active mainly in Nagasaki and Kyoto: the Obaku school of painting. Obaku-school paintings primarily comprised India-ink paintings created as a hobby and realistic Obaku-school portraits in brilliant, strong colors created by professional painters represented by Kita Soun and Kita Genki. The Obaku school of painting enormously influenced various Japanese artists, including Ike no Taiga, who made outstanding achievements in Bunjinga-style painting, the versatile artist and scholar Kimura Kenkado, and the “eccentric” painter Ito Jakuchu.

「白衣大士観瀑図」逸然性融

Byakue Daishi Kanbaku-zu (“Bodhisattva in a White Robe Looking at a Waterfall”) by Itsunen Shoyu, from the collection of Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture

「獨立禅師画像」喜多元規筆

Dokuryu Zenshi Gazo (“Portrait of Zen Master Dokuryu”) by Kita Genki
Dokuryu Zenshi Gazo (“Portrait of Zen Master Dokuryu”) by Kita Genki with a legend written by Dokuryu Shoeki, from the collection of Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture

Sculpture

 In the Edo period, Chinese sculptors harnessed their great skills to create Buddha statues for Obaku-school temples, thereby breathing fresh life into the then failing world of Japanese sculpture. A representative one among those sculptors of Buddhist statues was Han Dosei (1635–70), who worked for not only Chinese temples in Nagasaki but also Manpukuji Temple in Uji, Kyoto, at the request of Ingen. Obaku-style Buddha statues with exotic appeal, depicted as wearing decorative Ming-style robes, provided Japanese sculptors with great inspiration, leading them to create similar statues outside Obaku-school temples.

「韋駄天立像」范道生 東明山興福寺蔵

Idaten Ryuzo (“Standing Statue of Idaten [Skanda]”) by Han Dosei, from the collection of Tohmeizan Kofukuji Temple

Calligraphy

Obaku-school priests, including Ingen, created many calligraphic works embodying their individualities. The powerful and vivid Chinese style of calligraphy that they newly introduced to Japan spread not only among Confucian scholars, priests, and the literati but also to a wider range of people, including the general public. Ingen, Mokuan,* and Sokuhi* were especially popular and referred to as the “three greatest Obaku calligraphers.”

Visitors to Chinese temples in Nagasaki can still find unconstrained powerful calligraphic works by Zen priests in horizontal and vertical frames displayed at gates or on eaves.

 

※ Mokuan was an Obaku-school priest who moved to Japan at the invitation of Ingen, his master, in 1655. He became the chief priest at Fukusaiji Temple in Nagasaki and later succeeded to Ingen to become the second chief priest at Manpukuji Temple in Uji, Kyoto.
※ Sokuhi was another Obaku-school priest who moved to Japan at the invitation of Ingen, his master, in 1657. He became the chief priest at Sofukuji Temple in Nagasaki and is known as a restorer of the temple. He later established Fukujuji Temple in Kokura at the request of Ogasawara Tadasane, the then lord of Kokura Castle.

隠元「慧日輝禅林」・木庵「掌中握日月」・即非「一行書」

Calligraphic works by Ingen, Mokuan, and Sokuhi (from left),
all from the collection of Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture

Seal engraving

In Japan, wooden, stone, gold, and other seals were long used under the influence of China. In the Edo period, Dokuryu Shoeki (1596–1672), who became an Obaku-school priest under the guidance of Ingen, introduced elegant Ming-style seal engraving from China to Japan, causing a revolutionary change in Japanese seal engraving. Dokuryu Shoeki and Shin’etsu (1639-95) , another Chinese priest who moved to Japan and introduced Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and seal engraving to the country, are known as the founders of Japanese seal engraving.

伝独立所用印 岩国徴古館所蔵

Seals thought to have been used by Dokuryu, from the collection of Iwakuni Chokokan

伝独立所用印 印影  岩国徴古館所蔵

Impressions of seals thought to have been used by Dokuryu, from the collection of Iwakuni Chokokan

Literature

 In the Edo period, the arrival of Ingen in Japan aroused public attention to poetry about Buddhist teachings, leading to the massive popularity of various collections of poems by priests. In Zen Buddhism, it is generally thought that enlightenment cannot be explained verbally but can be shared only spiritually between masters and their disciples. Meanwhile, Ingen and other Obaku-school priests composed many poems and verses, showing the importance of verbal communication in Buddhism. Poetry by Ingen in particular reflects his great aesthetic and literary sensitivity, which is viewed as a noteworthy highlight in the history of Edo-period literature.

隠元が編纂した詩集 『三籟集』

Sanraishu, a collection of poems compiled by Ingen in 1660
from the National Diet Library Digital Collections

隠元の詩偈集『黄檗隠元禅師雲涛集』

Obaku Ingen-zenshi Untoshu, a collection of poems by Ingen
written by Ingen Ryuki and edited by Kyohaku Seigan,
from the National Diet Library Digital Collections

Culture

Manuscript paper

 A sheet of manuscript paper of the kind currently in widespread use has 400 squares—20 vertical lines of 20 squares—with a space at the center in which the title or the like is written. This format is originally modeled after the Obaku school’s unique format of printing blocks, which were used to print various collections of Obaku-school sutras, as well as words of Ingen and other priests.

原稿用紙

Manuscript paper

「韋駄天立像」范道生 東明山興福寺蔵

Format of a double spread with 20 vertical lines of 20 characters with a space at the center
Ingen-zenshi Goroku (“Collected Words of the Zen Master Ingen”) from the collection of the National Archives of Japan

Ming typefaces

 Ming is the kind of typeface most widely used in Japanese publications, including newspapers, books, and magazines. These typefaces are characterized by thick vertical strokes and thin horizontal strokes. They originated in Song China but were introduced to Japan as typefaces used in Ming-period books. Therefore, they are called “Ming” typefaces. Collected words of Ingen and chronologies of his life were all printed in Ming typefaces.

明朝体の文字『隠元禅師語録(部分拡大)』

Enlarged image of characters in a Ming typeface in Ingen-zenshi Goroku (“Collected Words of the Zen Master Ingen”) from the collection of the National Archives of Japan

Printing

 Tetsugen, an Obaku-school priest, wished there would be printing blocks to be used to print the Issaikyo (Chinese Buddhist canon) in Japan, so he aspired to create printing blocks. In 1669, he was presented by Ingen with a Ming version of the Chinese Buddhist canon, which motivated him to finally launch his long-planned project. In 1678, Tetsugen completed the printing blocks and the first printing of the canon, which is referred to as Tetsugen Issaikyo or the Obaku version of the Chinese Buddhist canon. At Manpukuji Temple, a building named “Hozoin” was constructed as a storage and printing house of those 60,000 printing blocks. In this building, the Chinese Buddhist canon is still being printed with wood blocks and provided to Buddhist temples around Japan

宝蔵院での木版印刷の様子

A sutra is being printed with wood blocks in Hozoin.
The printing blocks for Tetsugen Issaikyo are designated an Important Cultural Property.

Practice of beginning the names of novel things with “Ingen” or “Obaku”

 The practice of beginning the names of novel kinds of things with “Ingen” or “Obaku” was adopted widely, resulting in such names as “Ingen bean,” “Ingen headscarf,” “Ingen bonnet,” “Ingen kettle,” “Ingen futon,” “Ingen tofu,” “Obaku cuisine,” “Obaku stew,” and “Obaku rice cake.”

黄檗料普茶式の項に「黄檗饅頭」の字が見える

“Obaku bun” mentioned in a chapter about Obaku-style Fucha cuisine,
from Ryori Hayashinan, a quick guide to cooking
(licensed under CC BY-SA; from the collection of the National Institute of Japanese Literature, a National Institute for the Humanities)