What Is the Sojiji Karishinden?
The Sojiji Karishinden (總持寺仮真殿, Karishinden) is a founder's memorial hall at Sojiji Temple in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, built in 1911 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2023.
According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, it was built when the head temple moved from Noto to Tsurumi, to enshrine the shinpai, the memorial tablets of the founder and past abbots. Today it serves as a hall of memorial tablets.
It is a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 114 square meters. The national database gives its address as 2119 Tsurumi 2-chome, behind the Hokodo. The Sojiji Karishinden is one of the few buildings securely dated to the year of the move, and its name still carries the character kari, "provisional".
Why the Karishinden Was Registered
The Sojiji Karishinden was listed as a model of design. The main block has a hip-and-gable roof (Irimoya-zukuri) of pantiles (Sangawara-buki) with its entrance on the long side (Hirairi), and a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) connecting room projects at the front.
What the Agency calls distinctive is how it is joined to its neighbours. A stair with a railing (Kōran) topped by onion-shaped finials (Giboshi) leads up to the connecting room, and corridors on either side link it to the lay members' tablet hall. At the rear it connects to the Joshoden ossuary. Stairs and corridors pull several memorial buildings into one arrangement.
Inside is a single room with a coffered ceiling (Gō-tenjō) and shelves for the tablets. Built as the first place to honour the founder at the moment of the move, and still serving a memorial purpose, it marks a turning point in the temple's history.
What to Look For at the Karishinden
The front stair, framed by its finial-topped railing, climbs straight to the connecting room. With the corridors running off to either side, this is where you can read how the Sojiji Karishinden ties into the buildings around it.
The coffered ceiling divides the single interior into a grid of wooden frames and gives it formality. The national heritage portal has a photograph of the interior taken from the east that shows the tablet shelves.
The Hokodo and the Joshoden, both concerned with memorials for lay supporters, cluster around it: a place of prayer that has continued, in changing form, since the temple arrived.
Visiting the Sojiji Karishinden
The Sojiji Karishinden is in use as a memorial tablet hall, and the temple's visitor information does not list its interior as open. It lies in the area behind the Hokodo, so close exterior views are limited for ordinary visitors.
Photographs of the exterior and interior are available on Cultural Heritage Online. This is a place of remembrance, so keep quiet nearby and refrain from photography. Ask the main reception desk if you wish to pay respects inside. Directions are on the Sojiji Temple page.
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Q&A
- What is the Sojiji Karishinden?
- A founder's memorial hall built when the head temple moved from Noto to Tsurumi to enshrine the shinpai tablets. It is now used as a memorial tablet hall.
- When was the Sojiji Karishinden built and registered?
- It was built in 1911 and registered on 7 August 2023.
- What is distinctive about the layout of the Sojiji Karishinden?
- A gabled connecting room at the front is reached by a stair with finial-topped railings, corridors link it to the lay members' tablet hall, and the rear joins the Joshoden ossuary.
- Can I visit the Sojiji Karishinden?
- The temple's visitor information does not list the interior as open. Photographs are on Cultural Heritage Online; ask the reception desk about paying respects.
- Where is the Sojiji Karishinden?
- Behind the Hokodo. The national database lists its address as 2119 Tsurumi 2-chome, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama.
Basic Information
| Name | Sojiji Karishinden (總持寺仮真殿) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2119 Tsurumi 2-chome, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | 2023 (Reiwa 5) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single-storey; building area 114 square meters |
| Owner | Religious Corporation Daihonzan Sojiji |
| Public Access | In use as a memorial tablet hall; no published interior access |
References
- Sojiji Karishinden - Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014577
- Sojiji Karishinden - Cultural Heritage Online
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/605129
- Hokodo (Japanese) - Sotoshu Daihonzan Sojiji
- https://www.sojiji.jp/map/houkoudou/
- Visiting Information (Japanese) - Sotoshu Daihonzan Sojiji
- https://www.sojiji.jp/visit/
Last verified: 2026.09.16
Last verified: 2026.09.16
