Myokakuji Temple (Miyoshi)

Myokakuji Temple: a Shin Buddhist temple in old Kisa

Myokakuji Temple (明覚寺, Myōkaku-ji) is a Shin Buddhist temple in Kisa, Miyoshi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, whose gate of 1869, bell hall of 1892 and main hall built in 1928 were entered on the national register as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 6, 2024. The name is read Myōkakuji, and the temple should not be confused with Meikakuji (明覺寺), a different temple written with similar characters in Kyoto.

Kisa (吉舎) grew up as a post town on the Iwami Ginzan Kaidō, an old highway named for the Iwami silver mines. Hiroshima Prefecture describes Myokakuji as the Shin temple of the old Kisa post town, and its precinct still opens eastward onto the street that follows the old route.

The three registered buildings have very different stories. The gate and the bell hall were built here in the Meiji era. The main hall arrived much later, from Tokyo.

Layout of the Myokakuji precinct

The gate stands at the center of the precinct's east side. Step through it and you face the main hall, which also looks east. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the bell hall sits to the southeast of the main hall, close to the street on the southern side.

Seen from across the road, the gate is on the right and the bell hall on the left. Miyoshi City photographed them in exactly that pairing when the registration was announced, and the two were registered together for the way they shape the streetscape. The best approach is to take in both from the opposite side of the street first, then pass through the gate toward the main hall.

Gate and bell hall are both small, so their bracketing and rafters reward a close look. The main hall is a long seven-bay building, and its full width is easiest to take in from just inside the gate.

Three buildings, three histories

The oldest of the three at Myokakuji is the gate, dated by the national database to 1869. The bell hall followed in 1892 and was altered in the mid-Showa period.

The main hall began life far from Kisa. Miyoshi City records that it was built in 1928 in the Ryōgoku district of Tokyo as the main hall of Jikōin (慈光院), which served as the earthquake preaching hall (shinsai sekkyōsho) of the Tsukiji Betsuin of the Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji-ha, set up in the years after the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake. In 2020 it was dismantled, moved and re-erected in Kisa. Prefectural documents credit the design to the office of Matsui Kakuhei.

Just four years after the move, the relocated hall was registered alongside the Meiji gate and bell hall. The prefecture's summary calls it a fine example of a modern Japanese-style main hall.

Getting to Myokakuji Temple and visiting

The nearest station to Myokakuji is Kisa Station on the JR Fukuen Line. The temple lies almost due south of the station, about 1.3 kilometers in a straight line and roughly 1.4 kilometers along the streets, so allow around 20 minutes on foot.

Myokakuji is a working temple and publishes no admission fee or opening hours. Because the gate and bell hall face the street, their exteriors can be seen from the road at any time. If you hope to see inside the main hall, or are coming as a group, contact the temple in advance so that your visit does not clash with services. Viewing notes specific to each building are on its own page.