Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate

What the Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate is

Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate (教王護国寺北総門, Kita Sōmon of Tō-ji, also written Kyōōgokoku-ji) is an early Kamakura-period four-legged gate (Shikyakumon) at the northern edge of Tō-ji in Kujo-cho, Minami Ward, Kyoto City, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1910. It carries a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof covered in Hongawarabuki tiles.

The gate faces Hachijō-dōri, one of the main east-west streets south of Kyoto Station, and marks where the temple grounds begin. Tō-ji describes its precinct as a tall rectangle 515 meters from north to south, with the great halls grouped toward the southern end. The North Outer Gate sits at the far opposite end, well away from the pagoda and main halls most visitors head for.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the gate only to a range, the early Kamakura period of 1185 to 1274. Its database gives no exact construction year and records no ridge tag or ink inscription.

Doorway to a Heian-period lane

Walk through the Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate and a straight path runs south. This is Kushige-kōji, and it ends at the Great North Gate, the entrance to the temple's central compound.

According to Tō-ji, this stretch between the two gates is the only lane in the city of Kyoto that still keeps the width it had in the Heian period. Kyoto's streets have been widened, shifted and rebuilt many times over twelve centuries. Because this one ended up inside temple land, it escaped those changes.

On the east side of the lane stands Kanchi-in, a sub-temple that Tō-ji says was founded around 1359 by the scholar-monk Gōhō and later served as the study center for the whole Shingon school. So the route from the North Outer Gate southward is a Heian street plan overlaid with a medieval neighborhood of learning.

Why the Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate is protected

The Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate carries a designation date of August 29, 1910. That date predates the current Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties; it comes from the era of the Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs keeps it on record as the gate's Important Cultural Property designation date.

A shikyakumon is built around two main posts set on the gate's center line, which carry the doors. Two auxiliary posts stand in front of them and two behind, and it is these four supports that give the type its name, "four-legged gate." That makes six posts in all. The arrangement is common for temple and shrine gates.

Tō-ji preserves several gates from the early Kamakura period, and this one stands farthest north. Its role is less about guarding the halls than about drawing the line between the temple and the city around it.

What to look for

Start on the Hachijō-dōri side and stand back a little. The triangular gable ends of the roof appear at the left and right, while from the front you see the long horizontal eave and the sheer thickness of the tiled roof.

Then step underneath. Once you pick out the two central posts and the four supports around them, the structure of the Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate reads clearly.

Finally, pass through and turn around. Looking down Kushige-kōji, you can see straight to the Great North Gate at the other end.

A street-front gate, then an old lane running dead straight behind it: seeing the two together explains why this gate was put where it is.

Visiting the Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate

The Kyoogokokuji Temple North Outer Gate fronts Hachijō-dōri, so you can view its exterior from the street at any time, free of charge. If you take photos from the road, keep clear of pedestrians and traffic.

From the Hachijō exit of JR Kyoto Station, walk west along Hachijō-dōri; the gate is on the south side of the street, a short way past Ōmiya-dōri.

Following Kushige-kōji south brings you to the Great North Gate and then the main compound. Entering this way means approaching the great halls from the back, the quiet north side of the temple.