Choganji Temple Main Hall

What Is Choganji Temple Main Hall?

Choganji Temple Main Hall (長願寺本堂, Chōgan-ji Hondō) is the main hall of Choganji, a Shinshu Otani-ha temple in Shimokoya, Shibata City, Niigata Prefecture; built in 1750, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) of Japan on December 5, 2019. It is a single-story timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 364 square meters.

Choganji lies in the farming settlement of Shimokoya in the southwest of Shibata. The Otani-ha Niigata diocese says the temple has stood on this site since 1615. Choganji Temple Main Hall occupies the center of the grounds and faces south; the Agency for Cultural Affairs also records a renovation in 1913.

Why Choganji Temple Main Hall Was Registered

Choganji Temple Main Hall was registered as a model of its type. The Agency's citation sums it up neatly: the hall follows the standard pattern of a Jodo Shinshu main hall, yet has some unusual features of its own.

The standard part is easy to recognize. Under a hip-and-gable roof (Irimoya-zukuri), a porch (Kōhai) three bays wide projects one bay from the front. Inside, the space divides into the outer hall (Gejin) where lay followers sit, the inner sanctuary (Naijin) for the Amida image, and a side chamber, or yoma, on either side of it, an arrangement found across Shin temples.

The unusual part lies around the edges, and the Agency lists four points. The veranda that normally runs around the outer hall has been brought inside the building. The sanctuary has a rear passage, known as a gomon. A robing room for the priests sits behind the side chambers. And a tatami reception room, the dozashiki, juts out beside the eastern side chamber.

Inside the Walls: Choganji's Veranda, Rear Passage and Side Room

In many Shin halls the outer hall is wrapped by an open veranda. At Choganji Temple Main Hall that veranda sits inside the sliding doors and works as part of the hall itself. One can imagine the appeal in snowy Echigo, where it shelters the edge of the building and gives a crowded service more room to sit, but the Agency does not say why it was done.

The rear passage behind the sanctuary lets priests move around the altar area out of the congregation's sight, which keeps a service running smoothly. Choganji adds a robing room behind the side chambers, so the whole backstage routine of a service stays within the hall.

The projecting reception room is the feature you can read from outside. It adds a tatami room to the hall, probably for receiving guests or as a waiting room during services, though no source spells out its use. Because it pushes the east side of the plan outward, walking from the south front around to the east is the way to see the hall's unusual layout for yourself.

Dating Choganji Temple Main Hall

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates Choganji Temple Main Hall to 1750, with a renovation in 1913, and this article follows that record. Shibata City's own list of cultural properties, current as of July 2, 2024, gives different figures: construction in Kan'ei 3, which is 1626, and a renovation in 1967. The era names Kan'en (1750) and Kan'ei look alike in Japanese, and the same city list gives 1967 as the renovation year of another property, so a copying error is possible, but this has not been confirmed.

Visiting Choganji Temple Main Hall

Choganji does not publish visiting hours or an admission fee, and there is no notice of the interior being opened to the public. It is a working parish temple, so choose a time that will not interrupt services or visits to family graves, and speak to the temple before walking into the grounds. Photograph the exterior only, and not during services.

The best view of the hall is from the south, straight on, where the posts of the porch show its three-bay width. To see the projecting reception room, walk around to the east side.

The nearest station is Sasaki on the JR Hakushin Line. Choganji Temple Main Hall is about 1.3 kilometers southwest of the station, around a 20-minute walk; that figure is our estimate from the map, not an official one. We found no information about parking.