A mother and son holding hands were heading for the gate of Joren-ji Temple at the top of the stairs

A parent and child was climbing the stairs leading to the gate. It's hard to see in the photo, but the name "Akatsukayama" is written on the plaque on the gate. This is Joren-ji Temple in Akatsuka, Itabashi Ward, Tokyo. The mountain name of this temple, also known as the Great Buddha of Tokyo, is Akatsukayama. Yama means mountain in Japanese.

Even though there is a steep staircase in front of the temple gate, I still felt a little uncomfortable when I saw the mountain name, Akatsukayama. Is this a mountain? Come to think of it, Senso-ji Temple, which is built on a completely flat land, has the mountain name of Kinryuzan, and Kawasaki Daishi, which is also built on a flat land, has the mountain name of Kongouzan.

A mountain name is a title given to a temple. It is said that in India, the birthplace of Buddhism, there was a tradition of establishing monastic institutions, monasteries and temples in the mountains. Later, in China, where Buddhism spread, temples built in the mountains were given a mountain name to indicate their location, and the name of the mountain and the name of the temple were called together.

It was during the Kamakura period (1185-1333) when Zen temples followed the Chinese system of five mountains and began to give mountain names to temples in the plains. These are the so-called Kamakura Gozan. Since then, the number of temples built on the plains using mountain names has increased. In short, the mountain name has nothing to do with the topography of the place where the temple is built, it is just a title.

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