Kōshō-ji Shōrō: The One Building the Fire of 1902 Spared
In the south-east corner of the Kōshō-ji precinct stands a compact bell tower on a low masonry platform, facing north. Almost everything else the visitor sees at this head temple of the Kōshō-ha branch of Shin Buddhism was raised after 1902, when a fire destroyed the temple's halls. The bell tower is the exception. It was built in 1774 (An'ei 3) and came through the blaze intact, which makes it the oldest surviving structure in the precinct and the one link back to the temple as it stood before the disaster.
The tower has a distinguished origin. It is said to have been given in 1774 by the dowager empress Kyōrei-mon'in, together with its bell, on the occasion of a memorial for the late Emperor Momozono. The building measures three bays by two, carries a hip-and-gable roof of formal tiles, and wraps a sloping skirt around all four sides beneath a projecting bracket course.
Why the Bell Tower Was Registered
When Kōshō-ji's structures were placed on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties in August 2025, the bell tower was listed under number 26-0695 and recognised as a work whose form serves as a model.
The interest of the building lies in its mixed manner. The bracket complexes are three-tiered, rising to four tiers only at the corners, and the eaves use double fan-arranged rafters in the Zen-influenced style. Yet the interstitial elements between the brackets, the frog-leg struts and the short bundled posts, follow the older native manner. This deliberate blend of two idioms is characteristic of eighteenth-century temple carpentry, and here it survives in a building that predates by well over a century the halls it now stands beside. As the sole eighteenth-century element to escape the fire, the tower is also a document of what the temple looked like before its modern rebuilding.
What to Look for When You Visit
The tower rewards attention to its lower half. The sloping boarded skirt, set below the projecting bracket course, gives the small building a planted, sturdy stance that reads clearly even from a distance across the gravel. Look up into the eaves to find the fan-arranged rafters, then down at the struts between the brackets to see the older forms sitting alongside them.
Set the bell tower against the great halls nearby and the point of the registration becomes plain: this is the survivor, a piece of the Edo-period temple standing among early twentieth-century reconstructions. The tower sits in the south-east of the grounds and can be viewed from the precinct during daytime hours. Its bell, roughly a metre across, still hangs within.
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Q&A
- How old is the bell tower?
- It was built in 1774 (An'ei 3), making it the oldest surviving building in the Kōshō-ji precinct.
- Why did it survive when the rest burned?
- The fire of 1902 destroyed most of Kōshō-ji, but the bell tower and the sutra repository escaped the flames. The tower is therefore the main link to the temple as it stood before the disaster.
- Who gave the tower?
- It is said to have been donated in 1774 by the dowager empress Kyōrei-mon'in, together with its bell, at a memorial for the late Emperor Momozono.
- What is the 'mixed style' about?
- The bracketing and fan rafters follow the Zen-influenced manner, while the struts between the brackets keep the older native forms, a blend typical of eighteenth-century temple building.
- How is it protected?
- It was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in August 2025 (registration number 26-0695).
Basic Information
| Name | Kōshō-ji Shōrō (bell tower) |
|---|---|
| Location | 69 and adjacent, Hanazono-chō, Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto |
| Category / Registered | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building); registered 6 August 2025 |
| Registration No. | 26-0695 (110th round) |
| Built | 1774 (An'ei 3) |
| Structure | Timber, single storey, tiled roof; building area approx. 16 m²; three by two bays, skirted tower form |
| Owner | Kōshō-ji (religious corporation) |
| Access | South-east corner of the precinct; short walk from Kyoto Station |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Kōshō-ji Shōrō
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00015480
- Honzan Kōshō-ji, official site: Buildings
- https://www.koshoji.or.jp/about_2.html
- Shinshū Kōshō-ha, temple profile
- https://www.shin.gr.jp/member/kosho.html
- Honzan Kōshō-ji, official site: History
- https://www.koshoji.or.jp/about.html
Last verified: 2026.07.06