Jogi Nyorai Saihoji Temple Main Gate

About the Jogi Nyorai Saihoji Temple Main Gate

The Jogi Nyorai Saihoji Temple Main Gate (定義如来西方寺山門, Sanmon) is a two-storied gate built in 1932 at Jogi Nyorai Saihoji Temple in Okura, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 27, 2018. The timber gate has a copper sheet roof, a building area of 25 square meters and a short wall (Sodobei) on each side.

The Main Gate marks the way into the old heart of the temple. Beyond it, the Bell Tower and the Water Purification Pavilion face each other across the approach path, and the Sadayoshi Mausoleum Hall closes the far end. Two guardian kings stand inside the gate, and the temple also calls it the Nio Gate after them.

Why the Main Gate Was Registered

The gate was registered as a model of good design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a richly decorated gate built by the Kesen carpenters.

Hanawa Kikuzo of the Kesen carpenters designed and built it, with Hanawa Denkichi as head carpenter and Hanawa Dengoro as his deputy. The carving is by Ishii Toramasa, who also carved the Sadayoshi Mausoleum Hall. Sendai City points to the mass of carving above the tie beams and to the monkeys placed in the passage, and calls the gate an inventive piece of work that shows the carpenters at full stretch.

The temple says the calligraphy of its mountain name, Gokurakusan, which hangs on the gate, was written by Saito Makoto, Japan's 30th prime minister.

Three Bays, One Passage, Two Roofs

The Jogi Nyorai Saihoji Temple Main Gate is three bays wide with a single passage through the central bay, a type known in Japanese as sangen ikko. The guardian figures fill the bays on either side. It is a two-storied gate with a roof over each level, both in the hip-and-gable Irimoya-zukuri form. A curved Noki-karahafu lifts the eaves at the center of the upper roof on the front. The temple's guide calls the gate a romon, but the Agency for Cultural Affairs and Miyagi Prefecture both classify it as a two-storied nijumon.

The bracketing is of the Degumi type, and the eaves on both levels use two layers of closely spaced rafters. The roofs were first covered in wooden shingles (Kokerabuki) and are now clad in copper. The gate was repaired in 1957.

The carving is concentrated above the tie beams. According to the temple, Chinese lions, the three wise monkeys, the twelve animals of the zodiac and celestial maidens run around the gate. The temple's English guide invites visitors to count how many carved animals they can find.

Besides the guardian kings, the gate also holds figures of the bodhisattvas Seshin and Mujaku. The temple credits the guardian kings to Okina Tomomori and says the two bodhisattvas were installed in 1959.

Visiting the Main Gate

You can walk through the Main Gate freely while the temple is open. The temple gives the hours of the precinct around Sadayoshi Hall as 8:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Most of what matters is inside and overhead. In the passage, look along the posts and beams for the monkeys that Sendai City mentions. To take in the carving above the tie beams together with the upper karahafu, stand back on the path in front of the gate and look up, rather than turning around after you pass through.

The temple bans drone photography without permission but sets no rules for photographing the Main Gate itself. The passage is busy, so step aside rather than stopping in the middle of it to take pictures.