Myokeji Temple Main Hall

A Takada-School Temple Hall in Hisai

The Myokeji Temple Main Hall (妙華寺本堂) is the main hall of Hoonin Myokeji, a temple of the Takada school of Shin Buddhism at Hisai Ninomachi, Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, a single-storey timber hall built in 1857, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on November 8, 2004 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as single-storey timber with a tiled roof and a building area of 264 square metres; registration number 24-0051, owned by the religious corporation Hoonin Myokeji.

Hisai Castle Town and Myokeji

According to Tsu City, in 1669 Todo Takatsugu, second lord of the Tsu domain, retired and gave his second son Takamichi 50,000 koku as the branch domain of Hisai; the next year Takamichi laid out his residence and castle town on the Nobeno heights.

The temple records that it was founded in 1669 in the new castle town south of Tsu, receiving temple lands as a temple related by marriage to the Todo family. The main hall was built with the help of many members and has been repaired several times (Myokeji).

Value as a Registered Cultural Property

The Myokeji Temple Main Hall was registered as a structure contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes its distinctive exterior, with a decorative entrance canopy and a stepped shikoro-buki roof, and calls it essential to the historic townscape.

What to Look For

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a main body five bays by six and a half, with a large worship hall at the front, the inner sanctuary flanked by side rooms behind it, a rear hall, and music rooms in the lean-tos at the back of each side, a typical Shin temple plan.

The Myokeji Temple Main Hall has a hipped tiled roof broken into two pitches in the shikoro-buki manner, and a decoratively composed canopy over the front steps (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

Services such as the Hoonko memorial and the spring and autumn equinox services are held at the Myokeji Temple Main Hall, with sermons (Myokeji). The temple is at 1743 Hisai Ninomachi, Tsu City, about 700 metres or a 7-minute walk south of Kintetsu Hisai Station (Myokeji).

As a working temple, contact it in advance if you wish to visit (059-255-2846).