engineering

Jōten-ji

Jōten-ji is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jōten-ji rather than just read about it. In short: Jōten-ji (承天寺) is a Rinzai temple in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan. Its honorary sangō prefix is Banshōsan (萬松山).

Key takeaways

Jōten-ji belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jōten-ji to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jōten-ji from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jōten-ji (承天寺) is a Rinzai temple in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan. Its honorary sangō prefix is Banshōsan (萬松山). It was founded by Enni-Ben'en upon his return from China, with support from Xie Guo Ming, a Chinese merchant. Construction was completed in 1242.

Introduction of udon, soba and manjū

The founding priest of the temple, Enni-Ben'en went to China in 1235, mastered Zen Buddhism through great hardships and returned to Japan in 1241. Besides new teachings of Zen Buddhism, he brought back to Japan a variety of cultural features from China. The production methods of udon, soba, yokan and manjū are especially famous among them. It was during a begging round around Jōtenji Temple that Ennie first handed down the recipe of the manjū to a tea house owner who was kind and considerate with him.

For the 21st century explorers of Hakata and its Jōtenji-dori Avenue, on most days, a popular type of manjū in Kyushu decorated adequately with a figure absorbed in zen meditation, is sold in the close vicinity of Jōtenji temple: The stall is located next to the Hakata Sennen Gate on Jōtenji-dori Avenue and is operated by a zen priest associated with Jōtenji Temple. This is surely the closest place where manjū is prepared and sold to the formal residence of the monk who brought the secret of manjū making to Japan in the middle of the 13th century.

The origin of Fukuoka's most famous festival Hakata Gion Yamakasa is the most famous festival of Fukuoka and it is held around Kushida Shrine and Hakata Ward as the main sites. The origin of the festival is believed to date back to 1241, when Enni, the founder of Jotenji temple had people carry him around the town on a float while praying against the plague and eventually getting successfully rid of it.

Hakata Sennen Gate

The Hakata Sennen Gate (Hakata-sennen-no-mon (博多千年門)), the new symbol of the Hakata area, was completed at the entrance of Jōtenji-dori Avenue on March 28, 2014. It is a wooden four-legged gate with a tile roof, and was modeled on Tsuji-no-dōkuchi-mon (辻堂口門), the gateway of Hakata which appears in ancient documents. Height and length are each approximately 8 metres. It was named in the hope of prosperity for a thousand years in the future of the city of Hakata.

Cultural Properties Important cultural property:

Wooden statue of Shakyamuni Buddha and two attendants Six painted silk scrolls of six Zen Patriarchs Bronze bell originating from the Korean Peninsula (Chosen period) with an inscription dating back to 1065. Fukuoka City designated tangible cultural property: (to be added later)

Shinan Ship Joten-ji was one of the intended destinations of the cargo that the so called Shinan ship was to deliver from Ningbo to Hakata which route was also one of the final sections of the historic Maritime Silk Route. The ship sailed in the 14th century before it sank close to Korean shores due to bad weather conditions. This became apparent after the wreckage was found almost seven hundred years later: On some of the wooden tablets (or wooden tags) that were used customarily to identify the cargo, the Chinese calligraphy characters of Japanese temples such as a sub-temple of Joten-Ji temple could be clearly read. The main destination of the ship was Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto as a fire caused serious damage and materials for reconstruction as well as replacements for artifacts were needed. Hakozaki Shrine in Hakata also had cargo in the ship.

References

External links Yokanavi.com Ceremony for Jōten-ji founder Enni (hosted on YouTube) part I Ceremony for Jōten-ji founder Enni (hosted on YouTube) part II Ceremony for Jōten-ji founder Enni (hosted on YouTube) part III A short (30 sec) slideshow of Jōten-ji Temple (hosted on Vimeo)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jōten-ji

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jōten-ji claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jōten-ji before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jōten-ji ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jōten-ji

In research: Jōten-ji appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jōten-ji in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jōten-ji is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 13th-century Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temples in Fukuoka, Buildings and structures completed in 1242, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jōten-ji outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jōten-ji in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jōten-ji means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jōten-ji out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jōten-ji in simple terms?

Jōten-ji (承天寺) is a Rinzai temple in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan. Its honorary sangō prefix is Banshōsan (萬松山).

Why does Jōten-ji matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jōten-ji?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jōten-ji.