Myojuji Temple Middle Gate

A Richly Carved Gate Before the Main Hall

The Myojuji Temple Middle Gate (妙壽寺中門) is a four-legged gate of the late Edo period in Kanaya-machi, Bungotakada City, Oita Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 27, 2018 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a timber gate 4.5 metres wide with a tiled roof and flanking walls, renovated in the early Showa era; registration number 44-228.

A Four-Legged Gate with Tapirs, Lions and Qilin

The Myojuji Temple Middle Gate stands east of the main hall, halfway between the hall and the main gate (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Bungotakada City). It is a four-legged gate 4.5 metres wide under a fully tiled hip-and-gable roof. The two main posts are round and the four auxiliary posts square, tied together by tie beams shaped like arched rainbow beams.

The bracket sets project one step, the frog-leg struts are carved with chrysanthemums and the curved boards behind the brackets are covered in carved pattern (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The ceiling is a single flat panel. Bungotakada City dates the gate to the late Edo period on the evidence of its carving, and notes that the doors were renovated in the early Showa era.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered the gate as a model of design, describing it as large and magnificent, with carved pattern on the curved boards and beam-end carvings of a baku (a tapir-like guardian), lions and qilin. Bungotakada City also draws attention to the baku on the main posts and the lions and qilin on the side posts.

What to Look For

Compare the carved beam ends projecting from the posts: a baku on the main posts, and lions and qilin on the side posts (Bungotakada City). Step under the roof to see the chrysanthemum struts and the plain flat ceiling, a quiet contrast to the carving outside (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The street-side main gate is 3.5 metres wide, so the Myojuji middle gate is noticeably the larger of the two.

Visiting

The middle gate stands on the line from the front of the main hall toward the municipal road to the northeast, inside the main gate (Bungotakada City). No official information on opening hours or visits was found.