Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate

What the Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate is

Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate (教王護国寺蓮花門, Renge-mon of Tō-ji, also written Kyōōgokoku-ji) is an early Kamakura-period eight-legged gate on the west side of Tō-ji's main compound in Kujo-cho, Minami Ward, Kyoto City, designated a National Treasure in 1952. It is three bays wide with a single passage, under a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof in Hongawarabuki tiles.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Kamakura period, 1185 to 1274, and notes a tradition that it was built in the Kenkyū era, 1190 to 1199. No reliable record of its founding survives.

Unlike the South Gate on Kujō-dōri or the Keigamon Gate on Ōmiya-dōri, this gate sees little foot traffic, standing quietly at the western edge of the grounds. It is not large, yet it is the only gate at Tō-ji designated a National Treasure.

A gate that held to an older form

What the Agency for Cultural Affairs admires in the Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate is not its size but how old-fashioned its construction is. The timbers are thick and the proportions well ordered.

The agency singles out rafters (Taruki) that sweep sharply upward toward the eaves, thin bargeboards that curve strongly at their tips, and gable ends framed with two tiers of tie beams (Kōryō) linked by frog-leg struts (Kaerumata). It calls all of these extremely archaic. In other words, a gate built in the Kamakura period looks like something older.

The agency suggests the reason: the builders probably followed the temple's original style strictly. Tō-ji began as a state temple of the Heian capital and kept the orderly layout inherited from the Nara period, and when its gates were rebuilt, preserving the founding form evidently mattered. On that basis the agency ranks the Lotus Gate as a masterpiece among eight-legged gates.

The Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate as a National Treasure

The Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate was first protected on April 17, 1902, under the Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law, a date the Agency for Cultural Affairs records as its Important Cultural Property designation. It became a National Treasure on November 22, 1952.

An eight-legged gate has four main posts in a row along its center, with four auxiliary posts in front of them and four behind. The Lotus Gate divides its front into three bays and uses only the middle one as the passage.

As for the name, a well-known story says that Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) passed through this gate late in life when he left Tō-ji for Mount Kōya, and the gate is often said to be named after that departure. Neither the Agency for Cultural Affairs nor Tō-ji's official website records this origin, however.

What to look for

Walk around to the side of the Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate and look up at the gable. Inside the triangle, two horizontal tie beams sit one above the other, with frog-leg struts between them. This is where the archaic framing the agency describes is easiest to see.

Next, view the eaves from the side. The rafter ends rise sharply, so the roof edge seems to lift. Notice too how thin the bargeboards are and how firmly they curl at the ends.

Finally, step back to take in the whole gate.

Heavy posts and a low, broad roof give a modest structure real weight. Seen after the big halls, the density of Kamakura carpentry here stands out all the more.

Visiting the Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate

The Kyoogokokuji Temple Lotus Gate stands on the west side of the grounds, and you can view its exterior free of charge.

It lies west of the Lecture Hall and south of the Western Compound that holds the Mieidō. Access through the gate may vary, so follow the signs on site.

The gate faces west, so its outer front shows its details best when the afternoon sun is on it.