Jokyoji Temple

What Is Jokyoji Temple?

Jokyoji Temple (常敬寺, Jōkyō-ji) is a Shin Buddhist temple of the Ōtani school in Teramachi 2-chome, Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture, said to have been founded in 1284 by Yuizen, a grandson of Shinran; its main hall, bell tower and main gate became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on August 6, 2025. Its full formal name is Nakatosan Saikōin Jōkyō-ji, and its principal image is Amida Buddha. Locals call it "Akamon-san," the red-gate temple, after its ochre-red gate.

Jokyoji Temple stands in Teramachi, the "temple town" that lines the western edge of the old castle town of Takada. The gate opens east onto Ura-Teramachi Street. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the address by its land lot number, 117-1 Teramachi 2-chome, while the temple and the city use the postal address 2-7-28 Teramachi; both refer to the same grounds.

From Shimōsa Through Shinano to Takada

According to Jokyoji Temple's own history, it began as Saikōin, a temple Yuizen founded at Nakato in Shimōsa Province, in today's Chiba Prefecture. It did not yet carry the name Jōkyō-ji. Temple tradition holds that Emperor Go-Uda made Saikōin a temple for imperial prayers, and that this is why it was allowed a red gate. The fourth head priest, Zen'ei, used the name Mida Hongan-ji; the sixth, Zenju, pledged allegiance to Rennyo of the Honganji and received the name Jōkyō-ji from him.

In 1574 the buildings were burned in fighting at Sekiyado, and the temple lost its land. It moved to Shinano Province in 1576, was invited into Echigo by the Hori family in the early Keichō era (from 1596), and settled in Takada's Teramachi in 1666. In 1679 it moved from the Honganji branch of Shin Buddhism to the Ōtani branch.

There is also a Jōkyō-ji of the Honganji branch at Sekiyado in Noda City, Chiba. Jokyoji Temple explains that this other temple was built on its former site as Fukusen-ji and took the same name in 1701, and that the two have no family connection.

Jokyoji Temple's Three Registered Buildings

After a recommendation by the Council for Cultural Affairs on March 21, 2025, Jokyoji Temple's three buildings were registered together on August 6, 2025, under the consecutive numbers 15-0606 to 15-0608. The Agency's database gives these dates and criteria:

• Main hall: built 1731, repaired 1988. Registered as "a model of form"
• Bell tower: built 1792, repaired around 1985. Registered for "contributing to the historic landscape of the country"
• Main gate: built in the late Edo period, repaired in the 1950s or 1960s. Registered for "contributing to the historic landscape of the country"

So the main hall went up 65 years after the move to Teramachi, and the bell tower followed 61 years later. The gate is dated only to the late Edo period. The temple's assistant priest has written that, among the surviving main halls of Teramachi's temples, Jokyoji Temple's appears to be the second or third oldest, noting that harsh winters leave few old wooden buildings standing in snow country.

Beyond its buildings, Jokyoji Temple keeps a standing wooden figure of Prince Shōtoku, protected by Joetsu City. It shows the prince at 16 and is popularly called "Hanatori Taishi."

Layout of the Jokyoji Temple Grounds

Jokyoji Temple's precinct lies on the west side of Ura-Teramachi Street. The main gate faces the street to the east; inside, the main hall stands to the west, also facing east. The bell tower rises on a raised stone base southeast of the hall, toward the southern side of the grounds. All three buildings sit within about 70 meters of one another.

A natural route is to study the red timbers and gable carving of the gate from the street, walk through to stand before the main hall and its entrance canopy, and then turn left (south) to the bell tower. Each building's page covers what to look for and how it can be seen.

Visiting Jokyoji Temple

Jokyoji Temple welcomes anyone to come and pray, and the grounds are open to walk in. The temple's website sets out no admission fee or opening hours. If you wish to go up into the main hall, the temple asks you to telephone in advance.

Joetsu gets very heavy snow, and Jokyoji Temple suspends its commemorative temple stamp from late December to around mid-March. Winter visitors should expect snow on the grounds and on the streets of Teramachi.

The nearest station is Takada on the Echigo Tokimeki Railway Myoko Haneuma Line; the temple puts the walk at about 12 minutes. By car it is about 10 minutes from the Joetsu-Takada interchange on the Joshin-etsu Expressway and about 20 minutes from the Joetsu interchange on the Hokuriku Expressway. The city's Teramachi map also marks a Teramachi parking lot.