Ryogonji Temple

Ryogonji Temple

Ryogonji Temple (楞厳寺, also written Ryōgon-ji) is a Sōtō Zen temple in Imonoshima, Kakizaki Ward, Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture, founded in 1534 according to temple tradition, whose mid-Edo main hall and main gate were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on January 26, 2011 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Its mountain name is Daibutsuzan. The temple sits in the hamlet of Imonoshima, about a 15-minute drive from JR Kakizaki Station, and is closely tied to Kakizaki Kageie, a senior retainer of the warlord Uesugi Kenshin. Niigata Prefecture's tourism site describes Ryogonji as the family temple of the Kakizaki clan.

A Temple Founded for the Kakizaki Clan

Ryogonji's own account names Ryūshitsu Genkō as founding abbot. He was the second abbot of Rinsenji at Kasugayama and the fiftieth of Saijōji in Odawara, and died in 1511. The line passed to Denshi Sōteki and then to Tenshitsu Kōiku as third abbot.

Temple tradition says that Kakizaki Izumi-no-kami Kageie, a devotee of Tenshitsu Kōiku, invited the monk to revive the site of Tōsenji, an earlier temple of esoteric Buddhism, and that Ryogonji was built there in 1534. Joetsu City's tourism site identifies Tenshitsu Kōiku as Kenshin's own teacher, which places the temple at the meeting point of a local warrior house and the Zen circle around Kasugayama Castle.

The temple counts 38 generations of abbots and more than 480 years of continuous practice.

The Two Registered Buildings

The main hall faces south at the center of the precinct, and the main gate stands to its south, facing the same way. Walking in, you pass under the gate and see the broad hip-and-gable roof of the hall straight ahead.

The main hall measures 22 metres by 16 metres under a hip-and-gable roof now clad in copper sheet, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a standard Sōtō Zen hall of the mid-Edo period. The main gate is a four-legged gate with a gabled thatched roof, repaired in 1736. Local tradition holds that it was the rear gate of Kakizaki Castle, the clan's stronghold, moved here.

Both were registered in the 69th round on January 26, 2011, the hall as No. 15-0330 and the gate as No. 15-0331, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. Each building has its own page with construction details.

According to Joetsu City's tourism site, scenes of the 2007 film Fumiko no Umi were shot at the temple.

Visiting and Getting There

Joetsu Kanko Navi lists reception hours between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., with irregular closing days; visitors check in at the priests' quarters (kuri). A goshuin stamp costs 300 yen. No admission fee is mentioned, and a visit of about 30 minutes is suggested.

By rail, get off at Kakizaki Station on the JR Shin'etsu Line; the temple is about 15 minutes away by car. The Kubiki Kanko bus stops at Imonoshima-naka, one minute's walk from the gate, but check the timetable in advance.

Drivers can reach the temple in about 15 minutes from the Kakizaki interchange of the Hokuriku Expressway. There is free parking for 10 cars, with room for large buses. No official guidance on photography has been published, so ask at the priests' quarters before photographing services or the hall interior.