What a tahōtō is
A tahōtō is a two-roofed pagoda with a square lower storey and a cylindrical upper body. Above the lower roof is a white plastered dome-shaped collar called the kamebara, on which stands the cylindrical upper body carrying a square roof and a finial spire. Unlike three- or five-storied pagodas, whose storeys repeat the same form, its upper and lower parts differ in plan.
It is explained as the Hōtō form, a cylindrical body with a square roof, surrounded by a square lower storey equivalent to a pent enclosure. Tahōtō are common at temples of the Shingon and Tendai schools. The plan is usually three bays square; especially large examples are called daitō.
Reading the records and the pagoda
Records give the bays and form, as a three-bay tahōtō. The tahōtō of Jigen-in in Izumisano, Osaka, said to date from 1271, is a small example whose upper storey is cylindrical in the proper tahōtō manner with four-step brackets, while the lower storey has two-step brackets. The tahōtō of Jodoji in Onomichi, Hiroshima, rebuilt in 1329, is well proportioned and regarded as representative of late Kamakura architecture. The tahōtō of Kongoji in Kawachinagano, Osaka, dating from the late Heian period, is an Important Cultural Property.
On site, look for the white dome between the lower and upper roofs and a cylindrical upper body. A pagoda square in both storeys is a two-storied tower of the ordinary type, not a tahōtō.
References
- 慈眼院多宝塔｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/194830
- 浄土寺多宝塔｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/148321
- 金剛寺多宝塔｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/2190
Last verified: 2026.09.26