Hoenji Temple Main Hall

The Main Hall of the Maeda Family Temple

The Hoenji Temple Main Hall (宝円寺本堂) is the large main hall of a Soto Zen temple of about 1872 in Takaramachi, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on August 13, 2012 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is the central building of Hoenji (宝円寺, Hōen-ji), the family temple of the Maeda lords of Kaga.

The Agency records a timber building, single-storey with a partial upper floor, roofed in tile, with a building area of 666 square metres; registration number 17-0242.

Rebuilt in the Early Meiji Era

The Hoenji Temple Main Hall stands at the back of the precinct, facing southeast. It measures 24.8 metres by 18.1 metres under an Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable roof of pantiles, with an entrance porch crowned by a Noki-karahafu curved gable at the front and a founder's hall projecting from the rear (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Inside, eight rooms in four ranks are laid out around the inner sanctuary and the large central hall, and a veranda runs round the outside (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The temple records that a fire starting inside the precinct destroyed every building on the 28th day of the second month of 1868, and the main hall was rebuilt afterwards (Hoenji preservation society). The Agency dates the present hall to about 1872.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency describes the Hoenji Temple Main Hall as a large main hall with the standard plan of the Soto Zen school, fitting for the family temple of a domain lord, and registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Ishikawa Prefectural Board of Education presents it in the same terms.

It shows how a great domain temple, burned out at the very end of the Edo period, was rebuilt at full scale in the first years of Meiji.

What to Look For

From the front, look at the curved Noki-karahafu gable over the porch set against the broad hip-and-gable roof. The founder's hall projecting at the back comes into view on the way to the cemetery behind the main hall.

According to the temple, the hall houses a pair of guardian kings 545 centimetres tall, with the principal image of Shakyamuni flanked by Monju and Fugen, and the Sixteen Arhats (Hoenji preservation society). The Soto Zen Ishikawa Prefecture Office says the guardians were donated by Toshiie and that the open-mouthed figure, rescued from the 1868 fire, is thought to date from the 13th century. A moss garden runs along the hall.

Visiting

The interior of the Hoenji Temple Main Hall is part of the paid visit: the temple lists hours of 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and a fee of 500 yen. No official guidance on photography was found, so ask before taking pictures inside. Directions to the temple are on the Hoenji Temple page.