Underground Buddhist Sanctum

Underground Buddhist Sanctum
SC SCIII
Background music	The Cursed Image
Home to	Taki

Underground Buddhist Sanctum (方広寺地下大仏殿, Underground Buddhist Sanctum^?)^[Note], also called Hoko-ji Temple in Soulcalibur and Hoko Temple in the Western Dreamcast versions, is Taki's stage in Soulcalibur and Soulcalibur III.

Soulcalibur

Profile

The Hoko Temple was constructed in Kyoto under the auspices of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a ruler of Japan during the 16th century. Although the temple was officially intended to be a place where Buddhist monks could pray to bring peace and stability to the nation, the temple had a secondary, ulterior role as a focal point of a "katana-gari" campaign to quell peasant-led uprisings that occurred frequently during that era.

(Japanese Historical Note: "Katana-gari" was part of a political policy to remove weapons like katanas away from all people with the exception of the samurai nobility and to establish a rigid feudal class system. Until that time, there were no strict social boundaries between soldiers (samurai), merchants (sho-nin) and farmers (no-min). This is why Mitsurugi, who once was a peasant, could rise to the ranks of the samurai-class. After this rigid feudal policy was instituted, farmers were prohibited from bearing katana, and therefore effectively eliminated the ability of the lower classes to improve their place in society.)

Toyotomi felled thousands-year-old cedars to make the central support pillars of the temple and used iron from weapons confiscated through the katana-gari to create the giant Buddha statue. Unfortunately for Toyotomi, these materials used in the construction of the temple proved to have evil karmic consequences. The destruction of the old-growth cedars was equivalent to the killing of an ancient life force. In addition, the blood of the victims killed by the weapons cursed the iron.

It was only natural that this place bore the seeds of disaster and became the source of misfortune for the Toyotomi clan.

Soulcalibur III

Soulcalibur III - Underground Buddhist Sanctum

Profile

There is a secret place within the Hoko temple--a knowledge forbidden to be spread. That place is an underground Buddha shrine which was constructed using spiritually twisted methods. The shrine contains feng shui bowls made of felled jomon cedar trees severed from their natural chi. There is also a bizarre Great Buddha made from the iron of weapons confiscated during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's great disarmament of the country's peasants.

This place includes a tributary of the spiritually rich underground waterways that crisscross Japan, and is a place in which dark powers gather. Once before, in this place, Taki, with her sword Mekki-Maru in hand, sealed an ancient evil spirit.

Through the dark power of Soul Edge, the head of the Fu-Ma clan, Toki, had become a demi-demon and had merged with several evil spirits, including the evil spirit that Taki had sealed. His fight with Taki occurred in this sinister Great Buddha shrine. Bathed time and time again in powerful spiritual forces, this shrine has become a nest for all sorts of creatures, demons, and spirits.

Soulcalibur VI

Profile

Hoko-ji Temple

A large statue of Buddha that reaches over twenty-four meters in height is hidden beneath this temple in Kyoto. At its center is a geomantic compass, which was said to have been used by mystics to predict Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification of Japan.
The warlord was said to have cut down a Jomon cedar that was over a thousand years old from Yakushima Island to use as the main support post for the giant statue. In addition, it is also believed to contain iron that was melted down from swords that were used in bloody battles across the land.
In Japan, it is believed that trees contain a "kodama" or "spirit," and contain a divine life force worthy of veneration. With the giant Buddha being made with the murdered "body" of such a sublime natural being (i.e. an old Jomon tree) and infused with iron that had tasted blood, it is no wonder the negative energy in the ground eventually brought forth a great calamity.

Trivia

• In the Arcade and Japanese versions of Soulcalibur, the stage is called Hoko-ji Temple.
• In overseas Dreamcast versions of the Soulcalibur, the background music gets renamed to "The Cursed Soul".

Gallery

Hoko-ji Temple in Soulcalibur

Underground Buddhist Sanctum in Soulcalibur III

Notes

:^α . The Japanese name for this stage in Soulcalibur III is "方広寺地下大仏殿". The Japanese name for the stage in Soulcalibur is "方広寺～地下大仏殿～"