Kaijusenji Temple Five-Storied Pagoda

A Small Pagoda Built to House Buddha Relics

The Kaijusenji Temple Five-Storied Pagoda (海住山寺五重塔) is the early Kamakura five-storied pagoda of Kaijusenji in Reihei, Kamo-cho, Kizugawa City, Kyoto Prefecture, which in 1952 was designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a three-bay, five-storey pagoda with a traditional tile roof and a pent roof, covered in copper, on the first storey.

According to the Agency, it first appears in 1214, when Jokei's disciple Kakushin enshrined seven Buddha relics in it on the first anniversary of his master's death, and it was probably completed then.

Structure

According to the Agency, repeated repairs had removed the first-storey pent roof, altered the pitch of the roofs and removed the balconies of the fourth and fifth storeys, but the 1963 restoration returned it to its original form; the pent roof's original long-board covering is now sheathed in copper.

Though relatively small, it is unique in using two-stepped brackets on every storey, and it is the oldest surviving five-storied pagoda whose central pillar stops above the first-storey ceiling.

What to Look For

The Agency notes that the space within the four inner pillars is made like a shrine cabinet opening on all sides with plank doors, an unusual form reflecting the relic worship of the time, and that paintings of deities and monks on the doors and coloured patterns on posts and rails are well preserved.

Kizugawa City notes that among surviving five-storied pagodas, only this one and that of Horyuji in Nara have a first-storey pent roof.

Visiting the Kaijusenji Temple Five-Storied Pagoda

Kizugawa City notes that the interior is opened each year in late October.

The temple's history and visiting information are on the Kaijusenji group page.