Sanboin (Daigoji)

The Head Sub-Temple of Daigoji, Restored by Hideyoshi

The Sanboin (Daigoji) (三宝院, Sanboin) is the principal residence of Daigoji in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, whose Momoyama-period Omote Shoin and Karamon gate were designated National Treasures in 1954; its other halls, including the Imperial Messengers' Room, and a stone hokyointo pagoda are Important Cultural Properties.

According to Daigoji, Sanboin was founded in 1115 by Shokaku, the 14th abbot, as the residence of successive abbots; the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that from the medieval period its head also served as abbot of Daigoji.

The Agency relates that its buildings burned repeatedly and were slow to be rebuilt after 1470, until Toyotomi Hideyoshi came for his cherry-blossom viewing in 1598 and directed the restoration himself; most of the present buildings are said to date from then.

The Halls and the Karamon

According to the Agency, the Omote Shoin stands facing south at the centre of the halls, a large building with a broad veranda on the garden, a gabled pavilion over the water at its left end and a carriage porch with cusped gable on the west. It is valued very highly as the building that best expresses Momoyama shoin architecture.

The Karamon, built in 1599 as a gate in a wall and moved twice before reaching its present site, is a three-bay flat Karamon. Large paulownia crests are carved on both faces of the doors, with chrysanthemums of the same size in the side bays. Daigoji says it opened only for imperial messengers, and was restored in 2010 to its original black lacquer and gold leaf.

The Agency records the hokyointo as a late Kamakura stone pagoda on a platform.

Rooms and Garden

Daigoji notes that the lower room of the Omote Shoin becomes a Noh stage when the mats are lifted, viewed from the middle and upper rooms, whose sliding-door paintings are attributed to the school of Hasegawa Tohaku. The bamboo and birds of the Imperial Messengers' Room are also attributed to Tohaku's school, and the staggered shelves of the Oku Shinden, the Daigo shelves, are counted among the three finest in Japan.

Daigoji explains that the Sanboin garden, a Special Historic Site and Special Place of Scenic Beauty, was designed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself for his cherry-blossom viewing in 1598 and still conveys the brilliance of the Momoyama period.

Visiting Sanboin

Daigoji is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in summer and 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in winter. A combined ticket for Sanboin, the precinct and the Reihokan museum is 1,500 yen for adults, sold at the Sanboin reception.

The Junjokan, main hall and Oku Shinden are shown only at special openings.