Teishoji Temple

Teishoji Temple at a Glance

Teishoji Temple (貞照寺, Teishō-ji) is a Shingon Buddhist temple of the Chisan branch in Unuma Hoshakujicho, Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, founded in 1933 by the actress Kawakami Sadayakko; seven of its buildings were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan in 2006.

Its mountain name is Naritasan, so the temple's formal title is Naritasan Teishoji. It is a branch of the head temple Naritasan Shinshoji in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, and like that temple it enshrines Fudō Myōō, the fierce Immovable Wisdom King of esoteric Buddhism. Pilgrims know it as stop number 30 on the Tokai 36 Fudō circuit of Shingon school and other temples in central Japan.

The first character, 貞, is easy to misread as "jō", and some English listings have called the place Joshoji. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database and the temple itself both give the reading Teishōji. That same character opens the founder's stage name, Sadayakko.

Kawakami Sadayakko and the Founding of Teishoji Temple

Sadayakko was born Koyama Sada in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, on 18 July 1871. The temple's biography says she trained in Japanese dance from early childhood and later married Kawakami Otojiro, whose satirical "Oppekepe" song had made his student-theatre troupe famous. Touring the United States and Europe with his company, she became a star known as "Madame Sadayakko" in a West swept up by Japonisme.

At the time, men played the female roles on Japanese stages. Sadayakko went on stage as an actress anyway, and after returning home she founded the Imperial Actress Training School, where performers such as Mori Ritsuko trained. When Otojiro died young, she gave seven years of memorial performances, retired, and turned to supporting her old friend Fukuzawa Momosuke's hydroelectric development on the Kiso River.

All her life she was devoted to the Fudō Myōō of Naritasan Shinshoji. Teishoji was the culmination of that faith, paid for from her own fortune, and its dedication ceremony was held on 28 October 1933. The temple explains that she chose this scenic stretch of the Kiso River because she felt a deep bond between the landscape and the deity.

Ito Heizaemon XI, heir to a line of master builders who had served the Owari domain, took part in both the design and the construction. The main hall follows the model of Shinshoji's former main hall, today its Shaka Hall. Sadayakko also built a villa called Banshoen just outside the gate for her visits, and her mausoleum stands at the back of the grounds.

She compared her own life to "autumn leaves on flowing water", a reflection on her surname Kawakami, "upper river", and on years that had slipped past like a stream. According to the temple, that motif was worked into details across the grounds.

The Registered Buildings of Teishoji Temple

Eight Teishoji buildings became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties together on 3 August 2006, under the consecutive registration numbers 21-0094 to 21-0101, with official notice dated 24 August 2006. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the seven that survive as follows.

• Main Hall: single-storey timber building, copper roofing, building area 251 square metres
• Gate: timber, copper roofing, area 29 square metres
• Purification House: timber, tiled roof, area 5.0 square metres
• Treasure House: single-storey reinforced concrete, copper roofing, building area 125 square metres; now the Sadayakko Engikan museum
• Inari Hall: single-storey timber building, copper roofing, building area 11 square metres
• Priests' Quarters: single-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 218 square metres
• Shoin: single-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 50 square metres

The eighth building, the bell tower, was destroyed by fire on 27 February 2024. The Agency's published list of properties removed from the register after fire includes the Teishoji bell tower, with a removal date of 3 December 2024. Seven registered buildings therefore remain at Teishoji today.

They were registered under two different criteria. The main hall, gate and purification house were judged to contribute to the historic landscape of the country; the treasure house, Inari Hall, priests' quarters and shoin were recognised as models of design. All seven date from 1933, so what you walk through is essentially the founder's own temple, still largely intact.

Each building has its own page covering its construction and what to look for.

How the Teishoji Temple Grounds Are Laid Out

Teishoji faces east. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the gate as a fitting front for the east side of the grounds, and Kakamigahara City points out that the JR Takayama Line runs right along that side of the temple.

Measured from the map positions in the Agency's database, the buildings sit roughly like this.

• Purification House: about 20 metres southeast of the gate
• Main Hall: about 70 metres west of the gate, straight ahead as you enter
• Treasure House (Sadayakko Engikan): about 40 metres south of the main hall, facing north
• Inari Hall: next door on the west side of the treasure house, facing roughly east
• Priests' Quarters: about 50 metres northeast of the main hall, on the east side of the pond
• Shoin: joined to the north side of the priests' quarters

A comfortable loop starts with the purification house beside the gate, continues straight on to the main hall, drops south to the museum and the Inari Hall, and ends with the exteriors of the priests' quarters and shoin to the northeast. Sadayakko's mausoleum is further back in the grounds.

Visiting Teishoji Temple

Teishoji is open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with no closing days. The only admission charge the temple mentions is for the Sadayakko Engikan in the registered treasure house, where her stage costumes, scripts and furniture are on show. The fee itself is not listed on the temple website, so phone 058-384-0202 if you want to confirm it before you go. Parking at the temple is free.

Neither the temple nor the local tourism association publishes a photography policy. If you would like to take pictures inside a hall or in the museum, ask the temple staff first.

Prayer and memorial services are accepted between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. as well. Teishoji is known for prayers for progress in the arts, and Kakamigahara City notes that people from the theatre world visit in the hope of sharing a little of Sadayakko's success.

Getting to Teishoji Temple

The nearest stations are Shin-Unuma on the Meitetsu Kakamigahara Line and Unuma on the JR Takayama Line. Meitetsu Nagoya Station to Shin-Unuma takes about 30 minutes by limited express or about 35 minutes by express, and JR Gifu Station to Unuma takes about 25 minutes.

A taxi from either station takes about 10 minutes. Walking estimates differ: Kakamigahara City gives about 30 minutes, while the city tourism association gives about 1 hour, so leave yourself plenty of time if you plan to walk.

By bus, Teishoji-mae is a stop on the Unuma Line of the Kakamigahara Fureai Bus, a route that also serves Shin-Unuma and JR Unuma stations. Check the timetable before setting out.

Drivers can navigate to 5-189 Unuma Hoshakujicho, Kakamigahara City, where the temple car park is free of charge.

Annual Events at Teishoji Temple

The Teishoji year begins in January with a great goma fire ritual on New Year's morning, first shrine visits and the year's first Fudō day. February brings the Setsubun festival, prayers against misfortune and the Shusse Inari festival. In July a great goma ritual marks Sadayakko's birthday, October sees another for the temple's founding anniversary along with Shichi-Go-San blessings for children, and December holds Sadayakko's memorial day. A sutra-copying session takes place on the morning of the fourth Sunday of every month.

Setting aside one fire ritual for the founder's birth and another for the founding itself says a good deal about how closely this temple is still tied to Sadayakko.