Hokanji Temple Five-Story Pagoda (Yasaka Pagoda)

The Five-Storey Pagoda of Higashiyama

The Hokanji Temple Five-Story Pagoda (Yasaka Pagoda) (法観寺五重塔（八坂塔）) is a five-storey pagoda of 1440 in Yasakakamimachi, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on December 28, 1897 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a pagoda three bays square and five storeys high, roofed in round-and-flat tiles; designation number 00008.

The 1897 date in the Agency record is that of its designation under the former law.

A Pagoda above the Streets of Higashiyama

The Hokanji Temple Five-Story Pagoda, also called the Yasaka Pagoda, stands at Hokanji in Yasakakamimachi, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is a five-storey pagoda three bays square with roofs of round-and-flat tiles, dated by the Agency to 1440.

A Kyoto City landscape committee paper proposes adding the view of the Yasaka Pagoda from Yasaka-dori to the landmark views protected under the city's ordinance on scenic views.

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Agency's record has no commentary; the structure and date set out what was designated. Dated to 1440 in the Muromachi period, the pagoda was among the very first buildings protected under the former law, in 1897 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

What to Look For

Look for the pagoda rising at the top of the sloping Yasaka-dori, a view Kyoto City treats as a landmark in its townscape (Kyoto City).

Visiting

It is owned by Hokanji Temple (Agency for Cultural Affairs). No official visiting information was found.