Kinpusenji Temple

Kinpusenji Temple

Kinpusenji Temple (金峯山寺) in Yoshinoyama, Yoshino Town, Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture, has a main hall (Zaodo) of around 1591 and a Niomon Gate of 1456 designated National Treasures on November 14, 1953, and a mid-Muromachi copper torii designated as an Important Cultural Property in 1942 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The hall and gate were first designated in the Meiji period and the torii in 1942, all under the former law.

Kinpusenji is said to have been founded by En no Ozunu and is divided into a precinct on the mountain top and one below, where the main hall stands (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Japan Tourism Agency credits the founding to En no Gyoja (634–701), regarded as the founder of Shugendo, and notes that the temple became part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range World Heritage Site in 2004.

The Three Properties

The main hall is the Zaodo rebuilt after a fire of 1586; at 26 metres across, 27 metres deep and 27.5 metres high it is one of the largest buildings of its kind in Japan. Inside, a forest of tall unfinished columns rises, and the Agency notes that despite its scale the hall shows a well-ordered form.

The Niomon Gate is a large three-bay, single-passage gate with two full roofs and three-step brackets on both storeys, housing guardian kings of 1357; it is a leading surviving example of a two-roofed gate, a type rare in the medieval period (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The copper torii is a myojin-style gateway of the mid-Muromachi period. Each property is described on its own page.

Visiting

No official information on visiting hours or fees was found. The Japan Tourism Agency notes that the Zao Gongen statues in the main hall are shown only occasionally.