Hozoji Temple (Azumino)

What Is Hozoji Temple in Azumino?

Hozoji Temple (法蔵寺, Hōzō-ji) is a Jodo Shu (Pure Land) Buddhist temple in Toyoshina, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, where five buildings dating from the mid-Edo period to the early Showa period were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 26, 2005.

The five are a two-storied bell tower gate, a large priests' quarters, a small shoin reception building, a clay-walled storehouse and a modest rear gate. Jodo Shu's official temple directory lists the temple at 5716 Toyoshina. Because many temples across Japan share the name Hozoji, this page adds the city name: Hozoji Temple (Azumino).

The grounds also hold a main gate (sanmon) that Nagano Prefecture has designated as a Prefectural Treasure. Azumino City's cultural property plan describes it as a building that keeps the stylistic features of mid-Edo architecture.

The Five Registered Buildings of Hozoji Temple

All five were registered on the same day under consecutive numbers, 20-0250 to 20-0254, and all under the same criterion: buildings that have become a model for later design.

• Bell tower gate: built around 1793. Wooden, two stories with two roofs, tiled, building area 75 square meters
• Priests' quarters: mid-Edo period, moved here in the Meiji era. Wooden, two stories, tiled, building area 402 square meters
• Shoin: mid-Edo period; the Agency for Cultural Affairs records the same Meiji-era relocation as the priests' quarters. Wooden, single story, tiled, building area 65 square meters
• Storehouse: built in 1854. Clay-walled, two stories, tiled, building area 38 square meters
• Rear gate: built in 1928 and moved here in the Heisei era. Wooden, tiled, frontage 2.4 meters

Together the five span roughly two centuries. Only the priests' quarters, the shoin and the rear gate carry relocation records in the national database; the bell tower gate and the storehouse do not. The result is a compound assembled over time, where a formal entrance gate and the working buildings of a temple household sit side by side despite very different origins.

Hozoji Temple and the Anti-Buddhist Campaign of the Meiji Era

In the early Meiji era, the government's separation of Shinto and Buddhism set off a wave of attacks on temples known as haibutsu kishaku. Azumino City's cultural property plan notes that temples in the area were forced through major changes in that period. The priests' quarters at Hozoji is a direct product of it: the building originally belonged to the former Anrakuji (安楽寺), a temple in the Iwahara district that no longer survives. When it was about to be torn down, Ogawa Tameichiro (小川為一郎) of the former town of Hotaka bought it and moved it to his own home, and it was later moved again to Hozoji.

Azumino City also protects the site of a medieval fortified residence that carries the temple's name (法蔵寺館跡) as a city historic site, designated on October 29, 2008. The city plan counts it among the fortified residences of powerful local lords that are common in the Toyoshina area. How far that site overlaps the present temple grounds could not be confirmed from the city's published materials.

How to Walk Through the Grounds of Hozoji Temple

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the bell tower gate stands at the main western entrance to the grounds. Start there: look up from outside to find the bronze bell hanging at the center of the upper story, then walk through.

The priests' quarters stands near the center of the grounds, slightly to the south, and faces north with its entrance in the gable end. The shoin sits off its southeast corner and the storehouse behind it to the south. Both lie at the back of the household area, so view them from the paths rather than walking around behind the priests' quarters.

The rear gate is a side entrance in the southwest corner. Measured by the coordinates recorded for the registered buildings, it stands only about 50 meters south of the bell tower gate, so the front and back gates of Hozoji Temple are closer together than you might expect.

Getting to Hozoji Temple and Visiting Etiquette

The nearest station is Toyoshina on the JR Oito Line. Hozoji Temple lies about 500 meters northeast of the station in a straight line, so allow roughly 10 minutes on foot. This estimate is based on map distance, not on any official guidance from the temple.

The temple does not publish visiting hours or admission fees, and its page in the Jodo Shu directory says nothing about visits. As of October 2026, no interior openings or special viewings of the five buildings could be confirmed. The priests' quarters is also the resident priest's home, so let the temple know before entering the grounds and avoid times when services or grave visits are under way. Keep photography to the building exteriors. No parking information could be found, so if you plan to drive, contact the temple in advance.