Kodaiji Front Gate

About the Kodaiji Front Gate

The Kodaiji Front Gate (高台寺表門) is a yakuimon gate of the Momoyama period (1573 to 1614) at Kodaiji in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on August 28, 1907. It is a three-bay gate with a gabled hongawara tile roof (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a three-bay yakuimon gate with a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) hongawara tile roof. It is owned by Kodaiji, the temple founded in 1606 by Kita no Mandokoro (Nene) for Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which has five buildings designated Important Cultural Properties (Kodaiji, Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Designated

The Kodaiji Front Gate was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1907. It dates from the Momoyama period of the temple's founding, when, the temple says, Tokugawa Ieyasu's support made the grounds magnificent (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Kodaiji).

What to Look For

The Kodaiji Front Gate is a three-bay yakuimon with a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) hongawara tile roof (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

In a yakuimon, rear posts stand behind the main posts to carry the roof; from the front, the heavy tiled roof signals the gate's standing.

Visiting the Kodaiji Front Gate

Kodaiji is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (last entry 5:00 p.m.). Admission is 800 yen for adults and 400 yen for junior and senior high school students, and a combined discount ticket with Entokuin is 1,200 yen. Hours are extended during special evening openings such as in autumn (Kodaiji).

From the Higashiyama Yasui city bus stop it is a 7-minute walk east, or about 10 minutes from Gion-Shijo Station on the Keihan line (Kodaiji).