Chohoji Temple

About Chohoji Temple

Chohoji Temple is a Jodo Shinshu temple in Tano Town, Aki District, Kochi Prefecture, whose main hall of 1822 and gate of 1866 were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (structures) on December 1, 2003 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The name is read Chohoji.

The address is 1894 Tano Town, and the owner is the religious corporation Chohoji (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Kochi Prefecture's list shows that many other buildings in Tano were registered on the same day, including several merchant and family houses.

The Two Registered Structures

Both were registered on December 1, 2003 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Chohoji Temple Main Hall, of 1822, is a single-storey timber hall with a tiled roof and a building area of 149 square metres, 5.5 bays by 6 under a hip-and-gable roof with a one-bay entrance canopy. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a good example of a late Edo-period Shin Buddhist main hall in the Aki area.

The Chohoji Temple Gate, of 1866, stands south of the main hall. It is a one-bay Yakuimon gate with a gabled pantiled roof, 2.8 metres wide, flanked by tiled board fences one bay long; its main posts are of flat-sided timber and the ridge rests on a frog-leg strut (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Reclining Dragon Plum

According to Tano Town, the temple grounds (1894-1 Tano Town) hold a red-flowered plum tree called the Garyubai, or reclining dragon plum, thought to be more than 250 years old and designated a town cultural property on March 1, 1968. It is named for its trunk, which lies along the ground like a dragon, and is said to have been moved from the former Saifukuji temple.

Visiting and Location

Chohoji is a working temple, and no information on visiting hours or interior access has been published. Please be considerate of the temple and worshippers when you visit.

The address is 1894 Tano Town. Each structure is described in its own article.