Myokyoji Niomon Gate

A stone gate at the head of the approach

The Myokyoji Niomon Gate (妙教寺仁王門, Myōkyō-ji Niōmon) is a reinforced-concrete gate of 1957 at the head of the main approach to Saijo Inari Myokyoji in Takamatsu Inari, Kita Ward, Okayama City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2009/01/08. Clad in cut granite and crowned with domes, it looks like no other temple gate in Japan; the temple describes it as a stone Niomon built in the style of an Indian sanctuary.

The national database and an Okayama City article give 1957; the temple's website says the gate was completed in 1958. The difference may simply be between the year of construction and the year of dedication.

A gate that would not burn

The temple tells the story this way. The previous Niomon, a timber gate, burned with its guardian statues in a hill fire in 1950; the main hall and sanctuary were spared. Grateful that the guardians had saved the temple, the chief priest wanted a gate that could never burn again, and the Buddhist archaeologist Ishida Mosaku suggested stone. The rebuilding was planned to mark 350 years since the temple's revival.

The architect was Kishida Hideto, a professor at Tokyo University. His plan is unusual: a central block 4.2 metres square with four blocks 3.9 metres square projecting at the corners, each topped by a dome and a sorin, the ringed spire that crowns a Buddhist pagoda. The central block is opened by an arch to form the passage; the others house the guardian statues and other images. The area is 97 square metres.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs says the Myokyoji Niomon Gate stands out strikingly against the traditional temple landscape. It was renovated in 2013, with a dedication ceremony the following year.

What to look for, and visiting

The Myokyoji Niomon Gate stands at the top of an approach that climbs about 600 metres from the main car park and is open to everyone, free of charge. Walking up, you watch the five domes and spires grow on the skyline.

At the gate, look at the guardian figures in the corner blocks, the joints of the granite cladding and the curve of the central arch. After a day of timber temples, the sheer mass of stone and the rounded roofs are startling. Opening hours and directions are on the Saijo Inari Myokyoji page.