Rengebuji Temple Kondo

The Main Hall at the Centre

The Rengebuji Temple Kondo (蓮華峰寺金堂) is a Buddhist hall of no later than 1459 in the precinct of Rengebuji Temple in Kobie, Sado City, Niigata Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on April 14, 1906 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey hall five bays by five, with a hip-and-gable (irimoya) roof of copper sheet formed to look like thatch; designation number 00356.

The Heart of the Precinct

The Rengebuji Temple Kondo enshrines Sho Kannon and is the central building of the temple (Sado Sightseeing Navi). The Agency describes the Niomon, the Karamon, the bell tower and the guest hall all by their position relative to the Kondo.

The Agency's database dates the Rengebuji Temple Kondo to the mid-Muromachi period, standing by 1459 at the latest.

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Rengebuji Temple Kondo was designated together with the Kobodo in 1906. It is a large Muromachi-period hall on Sado and the centre of the nineteen protected structures in the precinct.

What to Look For

It is a large hall, five bays on every side, and its hip-and-gable roof is sheathed in copper shaped like thatch (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The roof keeps the thickness of a thatched one, giving the hall a heavy, settled outline.

From the Kondo forecourt you can see the Niomon to the southeast and the Karamon closing off the guest-hall court, and the layout of the precinct around the Rengebuji Temple Kondo becomes clear.

Visiting

The Rengebuji Temple Kondo stands at the centre of the precinct, and its exterior can be seen from the forecourt. No official information on interior access was found. Directions to the temple are given on the Rengebuji Temple page.