The Temple - Shoden-ji

In 1600, Mototada promised Tokugawa Ieyasu that he could hold rival Mitsunari’s advancing army at bay. But when Mototada saw that the battle was definitely lost, he refused to be captured. Instead, he and his remaining 375 samurai warriors committed ritual suicide. Their blood soaked the floorboards of Fushima Castle. Eventually, when Tokugawa Ieyasu vanquished Mitsunari, he salvaged the blood soaked floorboards of the castle, and used them as ceiling boards in four temples across Kyoto. There the spirits of the fallen warrior could be prayed for in peace, and the bloody footprints would remind visitors of their loyalty to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Shoden-ji is one of the four temples with the bloody ceiling boards. Tucked into the mountain, Shoden-ji is surrounded by nature. Sitting on the engawa (wooden-floored veranda) of the main temple, one can see distant views of Mt. Hiei from the terrace overlooking its rock garden. 

section through temple

plan

bloody ceiling

In the winter of December 1979, Bowie stood still and shed tears while gazing at the garden. The temple is known for its beautiful karesansui dry landscape garden. Bowie was there to make a TV commercial for Takara Shuzo, a distiller of shochu spirits. The company hired Bowie to give the liquor a makeover. It had been seen as cheap hooch for middle-aged men. Takara wanted to make shochu fashionable to women and younger drinkers.

Takara hired Bowie, an aficionado of Japanese culture known for his fine sense of aesthetics to promote its spirits. "We thought of different temples for the filming of the commercial, but Bowie, who knew Kyoto very well, chose Shodenji Temple," said Yoshiro Hosomi, who was then head of the company's advertising department.

Hosomi, who would later become chairman of Takara and deputy mayor of Kyoto, never heard of the temple's existence, despite having lived in Kyoto for 25 years. When he first visited the temple for the filming of the commercial, Hosomi understood why Bowie chose it as the setting - raked gravel, scattered rocks and bushes enhanced by the view of Mount Hiei. With few tourists, the temple was a place of tranquility.

"During the filming, while Bowie stared at the garden with tears in his eyes," Hosomi recalled. "I couldn't bring myself to ask whether he was moved by the scenery or was feeling sorrow for some reason," he said. "He was a sensitive and pure person."

In addition to starring in the commercial, Bowie wrote the synthesizer music titled "Crystal Japan". Sales of Takara’s shochu soared elevenfold between 1980 and 1985. Bowie's commercial