Gansenji Thirteen-Storey Stone Pagoda

About the Gansenji Thirteen-Storey Stone Pagoda

The Gansenji Thirteen-Storey Stone Pagoda (岩船寺十三重塔) is a stone pagoda of the late Kamakura period (1275 to 1332) at Gansenji in Iwafune, Kamo-cho, Kizugawa City, Kyoto Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on November 22, 1952. It is a granite tower to the left of the Aji Pond (Gansenji).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a stone thirteen-storey pagoda. It is owned by Gansenji, a Shingon Ritsu temple in Tono on the border of Kyoto and Nara whose three-storey pagoda, thirteen-storey stone pagoda, stone shrine and five-ring pagoda are all Important Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Gansenji).

Why It Was Designated

The Gansenji Thirteen-Storey Stone Pagoda was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1952. According to Gansenji, it was raised in 1314 by the monk Myoku.

What to Look For

The Gansenji Thirteen-Storey Stone Pagoda is 5.5 metres tall and stands on a stepped stone base. Its stages are well proportioned from the first storey to the finial, and the eaves curve gently (Gansenji).

The four faces of the first storey carry Sanskrit seed syllables of the four Buddhas of the Diamond Realm, cut in V-section. When the pagoda was restacked in 1943, a crystal five-ring reliquary was found in a hollow of the core stone (Gansenji).

Visiting the Gansenji Thirteen-Storey Stone Pagoda

Gansenji is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from March to November and 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. from December to February, every day. The admission offering is 500 yen for adults, 400 yen for junior and senior high school students and 200 yen for primary pupils (Gansenji). There is no parking in the grounds.

Take the Kizugawa City community bus from JR Kamo Station on the Kansai Main (Yamatoji) Line, about 16 minutes to the Gansenji stop. Seasonal buses also run from Nara (Gansenji).