One Hall, an Important Cultural Property since 1907
Jinkakuji Temple Main Hall (神角寺本堂, Jinkakuji Hondo) stands at Torida, Asaji-machi, Bungo-Ono City, Oita Prefecture, an early Muromachi building listed as an Important Cultural Property on 27 May 1907. The listing is as an Important Cultural Property, not a National Treasure, and the owner is the temple.
The quantity is one building and the designation number 00435.
The structure is three bays by three, single-storeyed, with a pyramidal roof in cypress bark. The listing of 1907 follows that of the Kuwanomidera main hall in 1904 as an early one.
Empty Fields Beside Fields That Say None
Absence is shown in two different ways.
The commentary field is empty. So are the fields for founding and history, and for ridge tablets, ink inscriptions and other matters of note.
The field for attached items, however, carries the word for none. So does the field for attached files.
Fields holding nothing stand beside fields stating that there is nothing.
At the Kuwanomidera main hall the commentary field was empty, and at the nine-storied pagoda too. Both were blanks.
Here there are blanks and there are written statements of absence. For the attached items it is certain that none exist; for the commentary it cannot be told whether none was written or none exists.
No Commentary, and Yet the Year Is Fixed
There is no explanatory text, but the year of building is settled.
The date field gives an era year and the year field gives 1369. Both the traditional and the Western reckoning appear.
At the Kuwanomidera main hall the year field ran 1333 to 1392, a span of fifty-nine years, and at the Kumatori Raigoji hall 1275 to 1332, fifty-seven. Both are ranges.
At the Haba residence, the Agency gave ninety years and the city twelve. At the Seianji guest hall, a heading and its text differed by half a century.
Here it comes to one year. The commentary field is empty and yet the date is neither a range nor an estimate.
How that year is known, however, is not recorded. The fields for ridge tablets and inscriptions are empty too. At the nine-storied pagoda, a carved date was copied into the notes field. Here no grounds are given.
Three Bays Square, Under a Pyramidal Roof
The plan is close to a square and the roof gathers to a single point.
The structural field gives three bays across and three bays deep: front and depth are equal.
The roof is pyramidal, its four slopes meeting at an apex.
The Raigoji main hall at Kumatori in Osaka Prefecture is also three bays by three. Its roof, however, is hipped.
A hipped roof carries a horizontal ridge; a pyramidal roof has none, its faces converging on one point. The same square plan takes a different roof.
At the Raigoji main hall in Matsusaka, the inner sanctuary was three bays square under a pyramidal roof. That is one part of a compound hall. Here the whole hall takes that form.
Visiting
The hall stands at Torida, Asaji-machi, Bungo-Ono City, Oita Prefecture, owned by the temple.
The roof is of cypress bark, as at the Kuwanomidera main hall. Both Raigoji main halls, at Kumatori and at Matsusaka, are tiled.
Cypress bark roofing lays bark in overlapping layers. It is lighter than tile and takes a curve more readily.
The nine-storied pagoda stands in the same prefecture, at Usuki, while this hall is at Bungo-Ono. That was listed in 1954 and this in 1907, forty-seven years apart.
It is a temple hall in the hills, and access follows the temple's own arrangements. Check before travelling.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Oita
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Jinkakuji Temple Main Hall
- [ Beppu Hell Tour & Yufuin Onsen Hot Springs ]
Q&A
- When was the hall listed?
- On 27 May 1907, as an Important Cultural Property rather than a National Treasure. The quantity is one building and the designation number 00435.
- When was it built?
- The year field gives 1369, a single year rather than a range. How that year is known is not recorded.
- What commentary accompanies it?
- None. The commentary field is empty, as are those for founding and history and for inscriptions. The fields for attached items and files, by contrast, carry the word for none.
- What size is it?
- Three bays across and three deep, so front and depth are equal. It is single-storeyed, with a pyramidal roof in cypress bark.
- What is a pyramidal roof?
- One whose four slopes meet at a single apex. Unlike a hipped roof, which carries a horizontal ridge, it has none.
Basic Information
| Name | Jinkakuji Temple Main Hall (神角寺本堂, Jinkakuji Hondo); the commentary field is empty while the field for attached items reads none |
|---|---|
| Location | Torida, Asaji-machi, Bungo-Ono City, Oita Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (structure, pre-modern temple), designation no. 00435; not a National Treasure |
| Year Designated | 1907 (27 May), Important Cultural Property |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 3 bays across and 3 deep, single-storeyed, with a pyramidal roof in cypress bark. Front and depth are equal, and the four roof slopes meet at an apex. The period field reads early Muromachi and the year field 1369, a single year rather than a range |
| Owner | Jinkakuji |
| Public Access | A temple hall in the hills; access follows the temple's own arrangements |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs database: the Jinkakuji main hall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/3616
- Cultural Heritage Online: the same hall
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/191453
- Bungo-Ono City
- https://www.bungo-ohno.jp/
- Oita Prefecture: cultural properties
- https://www.pref.oita.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.10