What's in a Name? Hokoji Temple Bell Inscription Incident

Japan has several famous Great Buddhas. The highly photogenic outdoor (thanks to a tsunami wave) statue of Amitābha Buddha is located in Kamakura. Tōdai-ji in Nara is the location of the world's largest bronze statue of Vairocana Buddha. Ueno in Tokyo was the location of the Ueno Daibutsu. After the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake damaged it, it was later melted down for war effort. Only the face remains today.

While building giant statues of Kannon, the God/Goddess of Mercy, was all the rage during Japan's bubble economy, previously, building giant Buddha statues had been the way in which the rich and powerful in Japanese history left their mark. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the second of Japan's "Three Great Unifiers," was no different, vowing to build a giant statue of Vairocana Buddha in the Higashiyama section of Kyoto, the ancient capital. He felt that Kyoto, as the actual capital at the time, should have a Giant Buddha to surpass the one in Nara, which had been Imperial Capital prior to Kyoto. With everyone focused on the statue, no one was prepared for the trouble that would be caused by the temple's bell.

In 1586, he received approval of Emperor Go-Yozei to go ahead, and land surveying began for an ideal location in Heian-kyo (the name for Kyoto at the time). In 1588, construction began, on a site located adjacent to the grounds of the Kyoto National Museum today. The size of the Great Buddha inside is a bit difficult to know exactly, as the calculated height listed the height of seated Buddhas that the Buddha would be if they were standing. The Hoko-ji Buddha was recorded as being 16-jo tall, an archaic form of measurement that would be about 48 meters. The Great Buddha in Nara is similarly listed as being 16-jo tall, but it's only about 14.7 meters. Impressive, but not 48 meters by a long shot. Hideyoshi was focused on making a temple with a Buddha taller than the Nara Great Buddha, as it had been destroyed in a fire by Matsunaga Hisahide, during the Battle of Great Buddha Hall of Todaiji Temple.

Hideyoshi had gathered some of the metal used in casting the Great Buddha by issuing an edict requiring all non-samurai to relinquish weapons, including swords, spears, firearms, and polearms. By disarming all non-samurai, it was believed that crime and violence would be prevented, earning positive Karma for this life and the next.

Progress continued for several years, being interrupted by earthquakes that destroyed significant parts of the temple. Each time, construction was resumed after clearing away the debris. However in 1598, construction paused when Hideyoshi died at the age of 63. A fire in 1602 destroyed the main hall and the image of the Buddha yet again.

In 1610, Toyotomi Hideyori committed to completing the work that his father had started, which included building a bronze giant Buddha to replace the burned wooden image. He also ordered a great bell cast in Bronze. The bell was successfully cast in 1614, which as is the case for most temple bells, had a number of passages inscribed on its surface. One of the inscriptions was "Kokka anko" 国家安康 which means "The country and the house, peace and tranquility." However, Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 saw this and immediately took offense. The characters of his name 家康 were separated by the character for peace 安 which he took as a curse. The bell was to be dedicated on August 31, 1614, but Ieyasu forbade the bell to be consecrated with this curse upon his name inscribed on its surface.

It is highly likely that Ieyasu did not feel that he was being cursed. But Hideyori was a barrier to his unfettered control of the country, and he needed an excuse to eliminate Hideyori. The Toyotomi clan sent Katagiri Katsumoto to Sunpu castle to apologize to Ieyasu, but he was never given an audience with Ieyasu himself. He returned to Osaka after never be able to meet with the offended Ieyasu.

On September 18, Katsumoto returned to Osaka and recommended adopting one of three proposals, likely his own, as no records of these proposals exist in Tokugawa documents. The proposals included Hideyori going to Edo on an official mission, Yodo-dono, Hideyoshi's wife and Hideyori's mother, being placed in Edo as a hostage, and Hideyori accepting the transfer of his domain and leaving Osaka Castle. These plans were rejected by the Toyotomi side, leading to suspicions that Katsumoto was colluding with Ieyasu. After being informed of an assassination plot, Katsumoto fortified his residence but refused to disarm despite Hideyori's mediation. Eventually, Katsumoto was relieved of his duties and left Osaka Castle on October 1, taking 300 soldiers with him. Both sides anticipated war, and on the same day, Ieyasu ordered his daimyo to march, marking the beginning of the Siege of Osaka. Following the conflict, Seikan, who wrote an inscription related to the incident, was expelled from Nanzen-ji Temple, sought refuge in Osaka Castle, but was later captured and died in Sunpu in 1621.

The Siege of Osaka in 1614, also known as the Winter Campaign and followed the Hokoji Temple Bell incident, was a pivotal conflict between the Tokugawa forces, led by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the Toyotomi clan, led by Toyotomi Hideyori. The siege marked the culmination of tensions brewing since the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, establishing Tokugawa dominance over Japan. Despite efforts at negotiation, Ieyasu sought to eliminate the Toyotomi threat once and for all. The shogunate's forces laid siege to Osaka Castle, the last stronghold of the Toyotomi clan. Despite fierce resistance, Hideyori and his mother, Yodo-dono, ultimately surrendered after a protracted and bloody conflict. However, the peace was temporary, as the truce was broken the following year, leading to the Summer Campaign and the eventual fall of the Toyotomi clan, solidifying Tokugawa rule over Japan.

The story of the Hokoji Temple Bell and the subsequent Siege of Osaka illustrates the intricate and often deadly interplay between politics, power, and religion in Japan's feudal era. What began as Toyotomi Hideyoshi's grand ambition to surpass the Great Buddha of Nara evolved into a flashpoint that exposed the deep-seated rivalries between the Tokugawa and Toyotomi clans. The seemingly innocuous inscription on the temple bell gave Tokugawa Ieyasu the pretext he needed to move against the Toyotomi, culminating in the bloody Siege of Osaka. This conflict not only marked the end of the Toyotomi clan but also the consolidation of Tokugawa Ieyasu's power, ushering in an era of peace and stability under the Tokugawa shogunate, but one achieved at the cost of countless lives and the fall of one of Japan's most powerful families. The legacy of these events serves as a reminder of how ambition, fear, and mistrust can shape the course of history.