Motoyamaji Temple

Temple 70 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage

Motoyamaji Temple (本山寺, also written Motoyama-ji) is a Koyasan Shingon Buddhist temple in Motoyama, Toyonaka-cho, Mitoyo City, Kagawa Prefecture, said by temple tradition to have been founded by Kukai in 807, and its Main Hall, built in 1300, was designated a National Treasure in 1955. Its full name is Shippozan Jihoin Motoyamaji, and it is Temple 70 of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage.

The principal image is Bato Kannon, the horse-headed form of the bodhisattva of compassion, and Motoyamaji is said to be the only one of the 88 temples to enshrine this deity as its main object of worship. That is why a statue of a horse stands near the Main Hall. The grounds cover roughly 20,000 square metres on open, level land rather than a mountainside, and the finial of the five-storied pagoda rises above the surrounding rice fields well before you reach the gate.

What makes the precinct rewarding for anyone interested in architecture is the spread of dates. A late-Kamakura main hall, a Muromachi gate and seven Edo- and Meiji-period buildings stand within a few minutes' walk of one another, so a medieval hall and the temple's later rebuilding can be read side by side.

From Chofukuji to Motoyamaji

According to temple tradition, Kukai founded the temple in 807 at the request of Emperor Heizei, and it was first called Chofukuji. A legend holds that he raised the main hall in roughly a single night. The present name comes from the local place name and is thought to have come into use in the late Edo period, around the 19th century.

The firmest dates come from the Main Hall itself. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that an inscription on its ridge beam records repairs in 1239, 1255 and 1291 and a rebuilding in 1300, and that ink writing from 1300 was also found on the underside of a foundation stone, which settled the question of when the present hall went up. Further repairs followed in 1539, 1663 and between 1818 and 1820. A full dismantling in 1842 and 1843 gave the exterior an Edo-period look, and it was the dismantling of 1955 that returned the hall to its original form.

In the late 16th century the Chosokabe clan invaded Sanuki Province. The Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage association relates a tradition that when soldiers entered the Main Hall and struck the chief priest, blood ran from the right hand of the attendant Amida statue, and the troops withdrew in alarm, leaving the hall unburned. The statue is known as the Tachiuke no Mida, the Amida who took the sword.

Most of the other buildings date from the Edo-period rebuilding. The Dainichi Hall was put together in the mid-18th century using Muromachi-period timbers, the Juo Hall followed in 1759, the Daishi Hall in 1795 and the Treasure House in 1833. The Agency singles out the Daishi Hall as the building that shows what that rebuilding actually looked like. In 1910 the chief priest Yoritomi Jikki rebuilt the five-storied pagoda, and the stone Kabuki Gate on the east side of the Main Hall was built the same year. The eight-pillared Great Gate was moved to the grounds in 1914.

What Is Protected, and at What Level

The Main Hall came under national protection on 15 April 1924 under the old system and was designated a National Treasure on 22 June 1955. It measures five bays by five, is single-storied under a hipped roof of formal Hongawarabuki tile, and has a three-bay entrance porch. The Agency describes it as a fine example of an esoteric Buddhist main hall and praises the shrine cabinet inside its inner sanctuary.

The Nio Gate, designated an Important Cultural Property on 29 August 1904, is a mid-Muromachi three-bay gate with eight pillars, and forms the southern entrance to the precinct.

On 19 December 2014 seven further structures were entered on the national register as Registered Tangible Cultural Property: the Daishi Hall, Juo Hall, Dainichi Hall, Treasure House, Bell Tower, Great Gate and Kabuki Gate, under consecutive registration numbers 37-0408 through 37-0414. Six were registered for contributing to the historic landscape. The stone Kabuki Gate alone was registered under the criterion for structures that would be difficult to reproduce.

Outside the national system, the small Chinju-do shrine hall, which keeps late-Muromachi features, is a Kagawa Prefecture cultural property, and the Meiji-period pagoda is protected by Mitoyo City.

Finding Your Way Around the Grounds

The formal way in is the Nio Gate on the south side. Pass through it and the Main Hall faces you, with two halls facing each other in front of it: the Daishi Hall to the southeast looks west, and the Juo Hall to the southwest looks east, so you walk between them on the approach. On a raised platform just west of the Main Hall sits the little pyramid-roofed Dainichi Hall, facing south and also known locally as the Akado, or Red Hall.

The Bell Tower stands in the southeast corner of the grounds on a base of rubble stone. Beside the Daishi Hall to the south is the Great Gate, which anchors the southern end of the eastern edge, and on the east side of the Main Hall a granite Kabuki Gate opens onto the precinct. That makes three gates in all. They are easy to confuse, so it helps to remember that only the south-facing Nio Gate is an Important Cultural Property.

The Treasure House stands north of the Main Hall at the southeast corner of the honbo, the temple's residential and office compound, facing west. It lies a little apart from the pilgrims' route.

The Temple Year

According to the pilgrimage association, a cucumber blessing ritual (kyuri kaji) is held on the Day of the Ox in the midsummer doyo period in July. During the Golden Week holidays (3 to 6 May) and the autumn holidays the five-storied pagoda opens for special viewings, a rare chance to see inside. A lantern-floating ceremony takes place on the evening of 23 August, and a goma fire ritual is held on the 28th of each month.

Visiting and Getting There

There is no admission charge, and as a pilgrimage temple Motoyamaji Temple is open to visitors during the day. The stamp office follows the pilgrimage association's common hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., in effect since a revision in April 2024. The address is 1445 Motoyama-ko, Toyonaka-cho, Mitoyo City, and the telephone number is 0875-62-2007. There is no temple lodging.

The nearest station is Motoyama on the JR Yosan Line; Mitoyo City gives the walk as about 20 minutes. By car, the temple is about 5 minutes from the Sanuki-Toyonaka interchange on the Takamatsu Expressway: follow Route 11 toward Kan'onji, turn right at the Motoyamabashi-kitazume intersection and keep straight until the pagoda comes into view. The car park is on the left, with space for about 30 cars according to the Mitoyo tourism bureau.

Whether each building's interior is open, and where to stand to see it best, is covered on the individual pages. The exteriors can be seen from the grounds, but please avoid photographing inside the halls or during services, and follow any signs posted on site.