Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House

What the Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House is

Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House (教王護国寺宝蔵, Hōzō of Tō-ji, also written Kyōōgokoku-ji) is a late Heian-period log storehouse northeast of the Lecture Hall at Tō-ji in Kujo-cho, Minami Ward, Kyoto City, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1925. It is 3 bays by 3 bays, with a Yosemune-zukuri (hipped) roof in Hongawarabuki tiles.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the late Heian period, 1086 to 1184. Of all the nationally designated buildings at Tō-ji, this storehouse carries the oldest recorded date.

It is built in the azekura technique: timbers shaped to a roughly triangular cross-section are stacked horizontally and interlocked at the corners to form the walls. With no windows, the building looks like a sealed box, which is exactly what a temple treasury needed to be.

A storehouse for Kūkai's treasures

According to Tō-ji, the Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House once held many of the temple's most precious objects, including the ritual implements, the paired mandalas of the two realms, a monk's robe of fine woven silk, Buddha relics and other treasures that Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) received from his teacher Huiguo in Tang China.

For that reason the building was surrounded by a moat, so that fire could not spread to it. Tō-ji notes that in early summer the moat fills with lotus flowers that seem to wrap around the storehouse.

The temple's website also presents it as a Heian storehouse that still bears the scars of theft, a reminder that this was where the temple's most important possessions were kept.

The Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House as an Important Cultural Property

The Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House was designated on April 24, 1925. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records that date as its Important Cultural Property designation and describes the form as 3 bays by 3 bays, log-built, with a hipped roof in round-and-flat tiles.

Tō-ji points out Heian-period details that survive in the building. The way the doors are hung matches the Phoenix Hall of Byōdō-in, and many of the roof tiles in use today date from the Heian period.

The floorboards were cut from the doors of a very large building. According to Tō-ji, they are said to come from the doors of the Golden Hall or of Rashōmon, the main gate of the Heian capital. The story is unconfirmed, but it suggests the storehouse may preserve pieces of buildings that no longer exist.

What to look for

Start with the walls of the Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House. The stacked log timbers interlocking at the corners look nothing like the plank or plaster walls of the temple's halls.

Then look up at the roof. The hipped roof slopes down on all four sides and carries heavy clay tiles, a lot of roof for such a small footprint. Tō-ji says many of those tiles are Heian-period originals.

Finally, take in the building together with its moat.

Come in early summer when the lotus is out, and the log walls rise behind a surface of green leaves and flowers. A moat dug to keep fire away now frames the storehouse as a view.

Visiting the Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House

The interior of the Kyoogokokuji Temple Treasure House is not open to the public. You can view the exterior across the moat.

The storehouse stands northeast of the Lecture Hall, toward the east side of the grounds. It is a different building from the Treasure Hall museum, which opens in spring and autumn; if you want to see the temple's treasures on display, check the museum's opening periods.

The lotus is at its best in early summer, but the timing varies from year to year, so check conditions before you go.