Joshoji Temple

Joshoji Temple

Joshoji Temple (定勝寺) at Suhara, a post town on the Nakasendo in Okuwa Village, Nagano Prefecture, has three buildings designated as an Important Cultural Property on March 29, 1952: the main hall of the early Edo period, the kuri of 1654 and the gate of 1661 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is a temple of the Myoshinji branch of Rinzai Zen (Nagano Prefectural Board of Education).

According to Okuwa Village, it is the oldest of the three great temples of Kiso: the eleventh head of the Kiso family founded it on the bank of the Kiso River in the Kakei era (1387 to 1389), and after floods swept it away three times it was moved to its present site in 1598. The memorial tablet of the warlord Kiso Yoshimasa is kept here.

The Three Buildings

The main hall, 19.0 metres wide, has a hip-and-gable copper roof; the kuri, 21.9 metres long, is gabled, entered from the gable end and designated with a corridor; and the gate is a four-legged gate under cypress bark, designated with a ridge tablet (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Nagano Prefecture points to the squeaking nightingale floors of the corridor, the garden and the weeping cherry. Built within some sixty years of the move of 1598, the hall, kuri and gate keep the layout of an old Kiso valley temple. Each building is described on its own page.

Visiting

According to Okuwa Village, the temple is closed for renovation until around autumn 2027. It is a 10-minute walk from Suhara Station on the JR Chuo Main Line; enquiries go to the temple.