Registered Tangible Cultural Properties · Okayama

Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion

Hofukuji Akibagu Purification Pavilion: A Simple Water Shelter of 1894

A minimal purification pavilion of 1894 at the Akibagu of Hofukuji, Soja: stone posts, timber arms and a gabled roof over a stone basin cut with an ogee-arched base.

Designation Registered Tangible Cultural Properties

Location Okayama

Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion: A Roof Raised on Stone Posts

The Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion (寶福寺秋葉宮手水舎, Hōfukuji Akiba-gū Temizusha) is a small water basin shelter built in 1894 at the Akibagu shrine within Hōfukuji, a Zen temple in Ijirino, Soja City, Okayama Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on April 28, 2009.

Visitors to Japanese shrines rinse their hands and mouth at a basin like this before approaching the altar. Here the shelter stands southwest of the Akibagu worship hall and is just 1.2 m across the front. Square stone posts rise to timber arms; short struts on the arms carry the ridge beam and eave purlins; widely spaced rafters complete a simple gabled roof in the Kirizuma-zukuri form, its ridge running north to south and its covering today of sheet iron. Between the posts rests a rectangular stone basin.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs reads the name as temizusha, though the more familiar reading for such pavilions is chozuya. Either way, the Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion was registered as a clear example of the type pared down to its essentials.

Why It Was Registered

The pavilion was registered as a model of design, with the Agency describing it as an example of a purification pavilion of simple construction.

Simplicity is the point. Post, arm, strut, ridge beam, purlin, rafter: each member sits on the one below, and almost nothing is concealed. The timber parts listed in the Agency's description are only the arms, struts, ridge, purlins and rafters, so you can trace the load from the roof down to the stone posts at a glance. It is also a concrete record of what a small shrine in rural Okayama needed from a water pavilion in the mid-Meiji era, and how it was built.

All 5 registered Akibagu structures date from the Meiji era, and only 2 have an exact year: the Gosha Myojingu stone shrines of 1892 and the Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion of 1894. Its registration number is 33-0226.

What to Look For

The finest detail on the Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion is low down. The basin sits on a cut-stone base, and its underside is cut into the ogee-arched outline of a Katōmado, the pointed, flame-like window shape familiar from Zen architecture. Crouch and look from the side to see the profile clearly.

Then look up at the post heads, where timber arms rest directly on stone. The joint between the two materials is left in plain view, and above it you can read the whole assembly of strut, ridge and sparse rafters in one glance.

Notice the placement too. Worshippers climbing the long stair from the south reach the pavilion just before they stand in front of the worship hall, which is exactly where a purification basin belongs.

Visiting

The Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion stands in the open southwest of the Akibagu worship hall. With nothing between its posts but the basin, the structure can be read from all four sides.

Head northwest from the temple center and climb the long stair to the Akibagu. The pavilion is on the southwest side of the worship hall at the top. Whether water is running in the basin may vary, so follow what you find on site.

No special photography rules appear in the temple's published information, but step aside for anyone who has come to use the basin. The cusped cut-out on the underside of the basin sits low, so crouch and look from the side to see its outline.

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Q&A

QWhen was the Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion built?: AIn 1894. It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on April 28, 2009.

QHow is the Hofukuji Akibagu purification pavilion built?: ASquare stone posts carry timber arms and struts that support the ridge and eave purlins of a gabled, sheet-iron roof. It is 1.2 m across the front.

QWhat is special about the basin of the Hofukuji Akibagu purification pavilion?: AThe rectangular stone basin rests on a cut-stone base, and its underside is shaped like the ogee arch of a katomado window.

QHow do you pronounce the name of the Hofukuji Akibagu Temizusha?: AThe official reading is Hōfukuji Akiba-gū Temizusha. Pavilions of this type are also commonly called chozuya.

QWhere is the Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion?: AAt the top of the long stone stairway to the Akibagu, on the southwest side of the worship hall. It stands in the open and can be viewed from outside.

Basic Information

Name	Hofukuji Temple Akibagu Shrine Water Purification Pavilion
Location	2068-4 Ijirino, Soja City, Okayama Prefecture
Designation	Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building)
Year Designated	2009 (Heisei 21), registered
Quantity	1 structure
Dimensions	Stone and timber, sheet-iron roof, frontage 1.2 m, with stone basin
Owner	Hofukuji (religious corporation)
Public Access	Outdoors, open to view