Honkoji Temple (Sado)

Honkoji Temple (Sado)

Honkoji Temple (本光寺) in Sawanekagomachi, Sado City, Niigata Prefecture, is a Jodo Shinshu temple whose main hall of the late Edo period, main gate of 1846, bell tower of 1886 and street wall of the end of the Edo period were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 7, 2008 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). All four are owned by the temple.

The Agency notes that the main hall stands near the middle of the plot on the south side of the street, facing north, with the gate and wall along the street; the gate, bell tower and wall were moved here in 1973.

The Four Structures

The main hall is a three-bay hall 11 metres across under a gabled pantiled roof, laid out on the standard Jodo Shinshu plan, plain outside but carefully finished in its brackets and transoms (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The main gate is a one-bay yakuimon whose gable frame of layered tie-rails and a steeply curved beam shows the Zen style in mind. The bell tower is an open one-bay belfry north-east of the hall, and the wall runs 14 metres beside the gate in plaster panels on a tuff base (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Together they keep the layout of a town temple, with gate and wall on the street and hall and belfry behind. Each structure is described on its own page.

Visiting

No official visiting information was found.