Enjoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda

A Stone Pagoda in the Village Cemetery

Enjoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda (圓成寺五輪塔, Enjō-ji Gorintō) is a late Kamakura-period stone memorial in Ninnikusen-cho, Nara City, inscribed with a date of 1321 and designated an Important Cultural Property in 1957. It does not stand in the temple grounds but on a rise in the middle of the village cemetery, about 200 metres southwest of Enjoji Temple.

A gorintō, or five-ring pagoda, is a memorial built from five stacked stones: a cube at the base, then a sphere, a pyramidal roof, a hemisphere and a jewel-shaped finial. They stand for the five elements of Buddhist cosmology, earth, water, fire, wind and void. The temple gives the height of this one as 234.0 centimetres, about 2.34 metres.

The base stone bears an inscription dated to the sixth month of the first year of Genkō, 1321, and dedicated by an ikkesshu, a confraternity of believers. That is a little over 10 years before the fall of the Kamakura shogunate.

The Oldest Dated Example in Nara Prefecture

The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out Enjoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda as bearing the oldest date of any five-ring pagoda in Nara Prefecture. Gorintō survive in great numbers, but few are dated, and those that are serve as reference points for placing the rest. The temple goes further and calls it both the oldest and the largest dated gorintō in the prefecture.

The word ikkesshu matters. It tells us this was not one family's grave marker but a monument raised jointly by a group bound by shared faith. The temple suggests it was probably a general memorial for the whole mountain community, honouring the dead of the temple and its surroundings together.

Stone is rarely rebuilt, so the carved words survive as written. The inscription is one of the few contemporary records of a religious community at Enjoji in the Kamakura period, well before the fire of 1466 destroyed most of the temple's halls.

What to Look For

At Enjoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda, read the stones from the bottom up. A solid cube carries a full, taut sphere; above it the roof stone flares at the eaves, and the hemisphere and jewel close the top. The way each stone steps down in size sets the character of the whole monument.

The inscription is on the base stone, so walk around to the sides as well as the front. Weathering has softened some strokes, and low, raking light makes the carving easier to follow.

Seeing It in Person

Enjoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda lies outside the temple's paid precinct, in the village cemetery about 200 metres southwest of the temple. It is a working burial ground, so visit quietly, keep out of the way of people tending graves, and do not step between the gravestones or touch the monument.

The temple publishes no viewing conditions for it. If you cannot find the way, ask at the temple reception before setting out. Directions to the temple and admission details are on the Enjoji Temple page.