One Hall, National Treasure since 1953
Jodo-Ji Temple Main Hall (浄土寺本堂, Jodoji Hondo) is a late Kamakura structure at Higashikubo-cho, Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, made an Important Cultural Property on 14 April 1913 and designated a National Treasure on 31 March 1953. The quantity is one building and the owner the temple.
The pagoda of the same temple became an Important Cultural Property on 27 March 1901, twelve years earlier. Yet both were designated National Treasures on the same day, 31 March 1953.
The hall is five bays by five bays, single-storeyed, with a hip-and-gable roof, a one-bay porch and plain tile. The date field reads: late Kamakura, 1327.
Burned in One Fire, Rebuilt Sixteen Years Apart
Jodo-Ji Temple Main Hall and the pagoda passed through the same event.
The commentary for the hall records that it was rebuilt after a fire in 1325.
The pagoda's commentary records that it burned in that same fire of 1325 and was rebuilt in 1329.
One fire, in one year, took both buildings.
The years of rebuilding differ. The pagoda went up in 1329. The hall's rebuilding year corresponds to 1345, sixteen years later.
The tower came first and the hall after. The order in which a temple recovered from one fire can be read from the records.
Date Field and Commentary Disagree Again
The discrepancy found at the pagoda appears at the hall as well.
The date field gives 1327. The commentary gives a rebuilding in 1345. Eighteen years lie between.
At the pagoda, the date field gave 1319 against a rebuilding in 1329, ten years apart. In both buildings of this temple, the date field is the earlier.
At the Kanshinji golden hall two records differed by a year; at the Sofukuji first gate by fifty-one. Those were disagreements between separate records.
The two buildings here have a date field and a commentary pointing to different years within one record. That has now happened twice at one temple.
This article gives both and does not settle which is right.
Three Manners Mixed Together
On how it was built, the commentary names three manners.
It belongs to the so-called eclectic style, native in the main with Chinese and Indian manners mixed in.
The native manner underlies it, and two others are mixed into that. The record gives this combination a name of its own.
At Sofukuji Daiyuhoden, the lower storey showed late Ming and early Qing influence and the upper was strongly native: the manners divided by storey.
Jodo-Ji Temple Main Hall does not divide. The manners are mixed within one building.
The assessment is doubly qualified: it is representative of buildings of this kind along the shores of the Inland Sea, and among those whose date is securely attested it is one of the oldest. A field is named, and then a condition set within it.
Visiting
The hall stands at Higashikubo-cho, Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, owned by the temple. It stands in the precinct and its exterior can be seen on a visit.
The pagoda stands in the same precinct, a three-bay two-storeyed pagoda roofed in plain tile, counted with the measure word for towers. The hall is counted as one building: a different unit.
Other buildings of the precinct are recorded as well: an Amida hall, a tea house and a rear gate, along with the garden and a stupa.
Related entries include other halls said to belong to the same eclectic style.
Access to the interior follows the temple's own arrangements. Check before travelling.
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Q&A
- When was the hall designated?
- It became an Important Cultural Property on 14 April 1913 and a National Treasure on 31 March 1953. The temple's pagoda was listed twelve years earlier but designated on the same day.
- Did it burn in the same fire as the pagoda?
- Yes. Both commentaries refer to the fire of 1325. The pagoda was rebuilt in 1329 and the hall in 1345, sixteen years apart.
- When was it built?
- The records disagree. The date field gives 1327 and the commentary a rebuilding in 1345, eighteen years apart. The pagoda showed a similar gap of ten years.
- How was it built?
- The Agency records that it belongs to the so-called eclectic style, native in the main with Chinese and Indian manners mixed in, so three manners are combined within one building.
- What is valued in it?
- The Agency calls it representative of buildings of this kind along the shores of the Inland Sea, and among those whose date is securely attested one of the oldest. The claim is qualified twice over.
Basic Information
| Name | Jodo-Ji Temple Main Hall (浄土寺本堂, Jodoji Hondo); a main hall of the same name in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, is a separate property |
|---|---|
| Location | Higashikubo-cho, Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture |
| Designation | National Treasure (structure, religious architecture); the pagoda in the same precinct is also a National Treasure |
| Year Designated | 1913 (14 April), Important Cultural Property; 1953 (31 March), National Treasure |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 5 bays by 5 bays, single-storeyed, hip-and-gable roof, 1-bay porch, plain tile. The date field gives 1327, while the commentary records a rebuilding after the fire of 1325. The style is eclectic, native in the main with Chinese and Indian manners mixed in. The period is the late Kamakura |
| Owner | Jodoji |
| Public Access | Standing in the precinct; the exterior can be seen on a visit, while the interior follows the temple's own arrangements |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: the Jodoji main hall in Onomichi
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/176362
- Cultural Heritage Online: the Jodoji pagoda
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/148321
- Cultural Heritage Online: a Jodoji main hall in Matsuyama, an Important Cultural Property
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/196000
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.05