Bukkokuji Temple: Stele of Master Gaoquan

JAPAN, Kyoto; Edo period

This bronze stele, with calligraphy written by Konoe Iehiro when he was 40 years old, is located at Bukkokuji Temple. The front is written in regular script and was completed in 1706; the back, engraved five years later, has calligraphy in clerical style. An inscription on the back explains that the delay was due to the waiting for the 17th anniversary of Master Gaoquan’s death in 1711. A Dharma descendant of Chan Master Yinyuan Longqi, Master Gaoquan, known in Japanese as Kosen Shoton, arrived in Japan by invitation in 1661, and subsequently founded Bukkokuji Temple. The stele was listed as an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 1918.
A high-ranking court noble, calligrapher, and monk of the mid-Edo Period (1615–1868), Konoe Iehiro adopted Shinkaku as his Dharma name and was also known as Yorakuin. Born in Kyoto to the daughter of Emperor Go-Mizunoo (reigned 1611–1629) of the Edo period, Konoe was a learned noble of refined talents including poetry, painting, writing, tea ceremony, and flower arrangement.