Jozenji Temple (Kyoto)

Jozenji Temple: a Pure Land temple at Kuramaguchi

Jozenji Temple (上善寺, also written Jōzen-ji) is a Jōdo-shū Buddhist temple in Kita Ward, Kyoto, that moved to its present site in 1594; four of its buildings, led by a main hall raised in 1812, were entered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 27 October 2017. Its full name is Senshōzan Henshōin Jōzenji, and locally it is just as often called Kuramaguchi Jizō, after the image of the bodhisattva Jizō kept in its grounds.

The temple gate faces south onto Kuramaguchi-dōri. Walking east from Kuramaguchi subway station, you find it on the north side of the street, at the point where Teramachi, Kyoto's old "temple quarter", begins its run south.

A history of moves and patrons

Temple tradition holds that Jozenji Temple was founded in 863 by the monk Ennin as a training hall for esoteric Tendai Buddhism, at Senbon Imadegawa in what is now Kamigyō Ward. After the Ōnin War left it in ruins, the priest Shunkoku Seishin rebuilt it during the Bunmei era (1469 to 1487). According to the Kyoto City Tourism Association, Seishin gave the Buddhist precepts to Emperors Go-Tsuchimikado and Go-Kashiwabara, and the temple became an imperial prayer temple with ten subtemples.

In 1594, as Toyotomi Hideyoshi redrew the city, the temple was moved to its present location and changed its affiliation to the Pure Land school. In 1712 the Matsudaira lords of Echizen (Fukui) granted it an estate rated at 100 koku and, by the temple's account, made it their family temple in Kyoto, enshrining memorial tablets for the domain's founder Yūki Hideyasu and his successors.

The principal image, a statue of Amida Buddha attributed to the monk Gyōki, is said to have been brought here in 1634 on the order of the retired Emperor Go-Mizunoo from Renge Shōjōji, a defunct temple in Saga.

Kuramaguchi Jizo and the Six Jizo pilgrimage

The Jizō of Jozenji Temple is said to be one of six figures carved from a single tree in the early Heian period by the courtier Ono no Takamura, who, the story goes, died briefly, met the bodhisattva in the underworld and returned to life. The temple's signboard text says the figure was first kept at Kohata, moved in the Hōgen era (1156 to 1159) to the edge of Mizoro Pond north of the city, and later came to Jozenji. That is why it is also known as the Mizorogaike Jizō.

Every year on 22 and 23 August, pilgrims make the Rokujizō Meguri, a circuit of six Jizō halls at the old entrances to the capital, and Jozenji Temple is one of the stops. The Kuramaguchi Jizō now stands in a hexagonal hall in the grounds. On those two days only, the Jizō hall and the Kannon hall are opened, and on the evening of the 22nd the Koyama-gō Rokusai Nenbutsu, a chanted and drummed Buddhist folk performance, is offered at the temple.

The grounds also hold graves of court nobles and daimyo families, among them the Chōshū-jin Kubizuka, where Irie Kuichi and other Chōshū samurai killed in the Kinmon Incident of 1864 were buried.

The four registered buildings of Jozenji Temple

All four buildings of Jozenji Temple were registered on the same day under consecutive numbers: the main hall 26-526, the shoin 26-527, the Kannon hall 26-528 and the main gate 26-529. The main hall and shoin were registered as models of architectural form, the Kannon hall and gate for their contribution to the historic landscape.

Only the main hall has an exact date, 1812. The shoin and gate are placed in the late Edo period (1751 to 1830), and the Kannon hall, built in 1918, is the youngest of the four.

The gate stands at the south edge of the grounds facing south, and the main hall sits behind it in the middle of the precinct, also facing south. The shoin lies northeast of the main hall, joined to it by a covered corridor, while the small Kannon hall occupies the southeast corner and faces west. Step through the gate and the main hall is straight ahead, with the Kannon hall to your right. Each building has its own page.

Visiting Jozenji Temple

The grounds of Jozenji Temple are open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day, and there is no admission charge. The halls are not open to the public, so the buildings are seen from outside. During the Six Jizō pilgrimage on 22 and 23 August, the temple receives visitors from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The nearest station is Kuramaguchi on the Karasuma subway line, about 5 minutes' walk to the east. By city bus, get off at Izumoji-bashi and walk about 3 minutes west. Drivers can use the coin car park immediately west of the temple, which offers a 30-minute discount to those who receive a goshuin stamp or a pilgrimage banner.

Names and spellings

Jozenji Temple is read Jōzen-ji. Its formal name is Senshōzan Henshōin Jōzenji, but as a pilgrimage stop it is better known as Kuramaguchi Jizō. A different temple with the same name, also holding registered buildings, stands in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture.

The lot number in the address is given as 482 Jōzenji Monzen-chō by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, but as 338 by the Kyoto City Tourism Association.