The Tower That Kept the Temple's Time
Along the northern edge of the East Temple grounds in Yokkaichi, at the centre of that side, a two-storey tower rises above the surrounding roofs. This is the Taikoro, the drum tower. Before clocks reached every household, a temple kept time for its neighbourhood by sound, and the drum housed on the upper floor here was the instrument that marked the hours and summoned worshippers.
The tower dates from the closing years of the Edo period, built somewhere between the 1830s and 1860s, with a single-storey wing added on the south side in the earlier Showa era. The main body is a compact double-roofed, two-storey structure under an irimoya (hip-and-gable) roof of formal hongawara tiling, its ridge running east to west. The added wing beneath is a simpler pantiled, gabled hall.
Reading the Upper Floor
The working part of the building is the top. The upper storey is small, about 2.9 metres square, and it is here that the drum sits. On the east and west faces, a katomado is set into the centre of each wall: the cusped, flame-shaped window borrowed long ago from Zen architecture and absorbed into the broader vocabulary of Japanese temples. Placed high on a tower, the twin windows do two jobs at once, letting the drum's sound carry outward and giving the tower a recognisable face from the street below.
The northern half of the tower keeps its original form well, and that survival is part of why it matters. The Showa-era addition on the south did not overwrite the older core; it was set against it, so the historic body of the tower reads clearly to anyone who knows to look at the north side first.
Its Place in the Skyline
In 2009 the Taikoro entered the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties (registration number 44-0168), registered together with four other structures in the compound as a work whose form serves as a design standard. The formal reason is architectural. The felt reason, standing in the grounds, is simpler: a drum tower gives a temple its vertical accent, the tallest note in a low horizontal composition of halls and walls.
Walk the north edge of the precinct to see the tower at its best, where the earthen wall and stone base run beside it and the older north face is turned toward you. From there the tower does the work it was built for: anchoring the corner of the compound and shaping the outline of the whole temple against the sky. Then look east and west along the tower's own windows, and imagine the sound that once travelled through them across the post town below.
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Q&A
- What was the drum tower used for?
- The drum on its upper floor was sounded to mark the hours and to call worshippers, giving the temple and its surrounding town an audible sense of time before household clocks were common.
- When was it built?
- The main tower dates from the late Edo period (roughly the 1830s to 1860s). A single-storey wing was added on the south side in the earlier Showa era. It was registered as a cultural property in 2009.
- What are the windows on the upper floor?
- They are katomado, cusped flame-shaped windows set in the centre of the east and west faces. Placed high on the tower, they let the drum's sound carry and give the building a distinctive profile.
- Where is the best place to view it?
- From the north edge of the precinct, where the tower stands beside the earthen wall and its well-preserved original north face is turned outward. The tower forms the vertical accent of the temple's skyline.
Basic Information
| Name | Shinshu Otani-ha Yokkaichi Betsuin Taikoro (Drum Tower) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1425-1 Teramachi, Yokkaichi, Usa, Oita Prefecture |
| Owner | Shinshu Otani-ha Yokkaichi Betsuin (religious corporation) |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registered 7 August 2009; no. 44-0168) |
| Built | Late Edo period (c. 1830s–1860s); south wing added in the earlier Showa era |
| Count | 1 building |
| Structure | Timber, two storeys, tiled roof; building area approx. 61 sq m; upper floor approx. 2.9 m square with a drum |
| Access | Northern edge of the East Temple precinct in Usa; viewable from the grounds |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database — Yokkaichi Betsuin Taikoro
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007816
- Usa City Tourism Association — East and West Yokkaichi Betsuin
- https://www.usa-kanko.jp/pages/126/
- Shinshu Otani-ha Yokkaichi Betsuin (official site)
- https://yokkaichihigashibetsuin.oita.jp/
- Wikipedia — Shinshu Otani-ha Yokkaichi Betsuin
- https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/真宗大谷派四日市別院
Last verified: 2026.07.11