Tofukuji Temple Sanmon Gate

A Two-Storey Gate of Five Bays, National Treasure since 1952

Tofukuji Temple Sanmon Gate (東福寺三門, Tofukuji Sanmon) stands at Tofukuji, Honmachi 15-chome, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, designated a National Treasure on 29 March 1952. It had become an Important Cultural Property on 28 December 1897. The quantity is one building and the owner is Tofukuji.

Its form is a two-storey gate of five bays with three openings, hip-and-gable roof, heavy tile, with stair houses on both sides, each gabled and tiled. The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the period as mid-Muromachi and the date as 1405.

Of the five bays, three can be walked through. Stair houses stand at either side of the gate, each under its own gabled roof of heavy tile.

A Zen Temple, but Not in the Zen Manner

The heart of the Agency's assessment is a mismatch of manner.

What marks this gate is that, though it stands at a Zen temple, it is not in the pure Zen manner; in its structure it belongs rather to the great Buddha manner.

The school of the temple and the structural tradition of its gate do not agree. A gate at a Zen temple is framed in a manner that is not Zen.

The Agency offers a reason: the manner appears to have been carried over when the gate was rebuilt. After the fires, the earlier tradition was kept in the new work.

The result is that the timbers are thick in proportion, giving an effect of great scale, and the gate stands out as exceptional among Japanese buildings. The great Buddha manner uses heavy members, where the Zen manner makes its parts look slender.

Exceptional is the word of assessment. Accounts elsewhere call this the oldest and largest surviving Zen temple gate in Japan, but the Agency's record contains no comparison of dates or dimensions.

An Inscription Found in Dismantling Fixed the Date

The ground for the date is set down in the record.

Inscriptions in ink found during the dismantling and repair of 1969 to 1977, from Showa 44 to 52, showed that the tiling of the roof and the work on the upper storey went on until about 1405 to 1413.

An inscription that surfaced during repair gave the period of the work. At the Komyoji gate too, an inscription found during repairs in 1950 fixed the date of building. Repairs have settled the dating in both cases.

What was established is when the roof tiling and the upper storey were being worked on, which is to say a particular phase of construction rather than the completion of the whole.

The 1405 in the date field is the earlier of those years.

Three Fires and Two Repairs

How the gate came to stand is recorded too.

Tofukuji was founded by Fujiwara no Michiie in 1236, then suffered fires in 1319, 1334 and 1336. The gate was rebuilt after them.

Three fires within seventeen years. The gate standing now belongs to the rebuilding that followed.

Nor was it left alone after that. It leaned after the earthquake of 1585 and was repaired by Hideyoshi, and further repairs were made in 1792.

Fire, earthquake and two repairs, with the dismantling of 1969 to 1977 added to them. The Agency's record sets out in order the attentions this gate has received.

The Upper Storey, and Visiting

The interior is recorded as well: the upper storey is painted throughout and holds figures of the sixteen arhats.

The inside of the upper storey is covered in painting. As at Hokaiji, where columns and ceiling alike carry painting, every surface is colored.

The sixteen arhats are the disciples held to have carried on the teaching. The upper storey of the gate serves as the place where they are enshrined.

Tofukuji is at Honmachi 15-chome, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City. The gate stands out of doors and its exterior can be seen. Access to the upper storey may be limited to special openings, so check the temple's information before travelling.

Outside, what repays looking at is the thickness of the timbers, the part the Agency calls of great scale. Comparing the columns and beams with those of other gates makes the difference plain.