Five Mountain System

The Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries System (五山十刹制度, Chinese: Wushan Shicha, Japanese: Gozan Jissetsu Seido) system, more commonly called simply Five Mountain System, was a network of state-sponsored Chan (Zen) Buddhist temples created in China during the Southern Song (1127–1279). The term "mountain" in this context means "temple" or "monastery", and was adopted because the traditional name for monastics was mountain monks as many monasteries were built on isolated mountains. The system originated in India and was then adopted by China, later spreading to Japan during the late Kamakura period (1185–1333).^[1]

In Japan, the ten existing "Five Mountain" temples (five in Kyoto and five in Kamakura, Kanagawa) were both protected and controlled by the shogunate.^[1] In time, they became a sort of governmental bureaucracy that helped the Ashikaga shogunate stabilize the country during the turbulent Nanboku-chō period. Below the ten Gozan temples there were ten so-called Jissetsu (十刹) temples, followed by another network called Shozan (諸山, lit. many temples).^[2] The terms Gozan and Five Mountain System are used both for the ten temples at the top and for the Five Mountain System network in general, including the Jissetsu and the Shozan.

There used to be in Kamakura a parallel "Five Mountain System" of nunneries called Amagozan (尼五山), of which the famous Tōkei-ji is the only survivor.^[3]

^ ^a ^b Iwanami Nihonshi Jiten, Gozan.
^ Cite error: The named reference Dumoulin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Harada41 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[inj-1] Iwanami Nihonshi Jiten, Gozan.

[Dumoulin-2] Cite error: The named reference Dumoulin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Harada41-3] Cite error: The named reference Harada41 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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