Mantokuji Temple Tahoto Pagoda

A Muromachi Pagoda Modelled on Shokaiji

The Mantokuji Temple Tahoto Pagoda (万徳寺多宝塔, Mantokuji tahoto) is a Muromachi-period tahoto at Mantokuji in Nagano, Inazawa City, Aichi Prefecture; it was protected under earlier law on March 27, 1901, and became an Important Cultural Property under the current law. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a three-bay tahoto with a cypress-bark roof.

According to Inazawa City, its date is unknown but it is accepted as Muromachi work. It was dismantled and repaired in 1903, re-roofed in 1960 and 1990, and conserved again in 2019 and 2020.

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The pagoda was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1901. Inazawa City explains that the pent roof (mokoshi) level is 3 ken wide with chamfered square posts and projecting brackets with a cove, the upper storey has four-stepped wayo brackets, and the base of the upper balustrade uses Zen-style flat three-block brackets.

The city notes many similarities with the tahoto of Shokaiji in the same city. Mantokuji's pagoda is plainer, however, with no lattice windows or lower tie beams at the mokoshi level, doorways only at front and back, boarded side walls and no frog-leg struts between the brackets. Shared details in the tie beams, beam ends and bracket carving suggest it was modelled on the Shokaiji pagoda.

What to Look For

Look at the four-stepped wayo brackets carrying the deep eaves of the upper storey, and at the Zen-style flat brackets under the balustrade (Inazawa City).

The lower level is plain, with doorways only at front and back and boarded sides. Comparing it with the Shokaiji pagoda shows what the two local towers share and where they differ.

Visiting

The temple's overview and contact details are on the Mantokuji Temple (Inazawa) page. No official information on viewing conditions was found.