Old Methods Outside, New Ones Within
About 26 meters of wood rises from a forested ridge above the hamlet of Sadamune, in the hills of Misaki in northern Okayama Prefecture. This is the three-story pagoda of Honzan-ji, the tallest structure of its kind in the prefecture. Mori Nagatsugu, second lord of the Tsuyama domain, had it rebuilt in 1652, near the start of the Edo period, and a wooden ridge tablet preserved with the building records that exact year.
Seen from the temple path, the pagoda reads as thoroughly traditional. Each of its three stories measures three bays across. A railed veranda with bulb-shaped giboshi finials wraps the first level, the central bay carries paneled wooden doors, and the flanking bays are closed with plain boards. Strut-and-block supports called kentozuka fill the spaces between the columns on all three faces. Nothing here would have surprised a carpenter of two centuries earlier.
The departure is inside. To hold up the deep eaves, the builders relied on hanegi, concealed cantilevered levers that carry the overhang from within rather than through visible bracketing alone. The way the projecting bracket arms are joined also follows newer practice. The building is orthodox in its face and inventive in its frame.
Why It Is an Important Cultural Property
Japan's national government designated the pagoda an Important Cultural Property on December 28, 1980. The reason sits in that split between face and frame. By the mid-1600s, carpenters were adopting structural shortcuts that would define later construction, and the Honzan-ji pagoda is one of the earliest surviving towers to fold those methods into an otherwise classical design.
The reliance on hanegi to support the eaves is the clearest case. Hidden cantilever beams let builders project a generous overhang without the dense, labor-intensive bracketing that earlier pagodas required. Honzan-ji shows the technique already at work in a major tower in 1652, which makes the building a useful marker in the history of how Japanese carpenters solved the problem of the eaves.
The designation also covers the building's munafuda, the inscribed ridge tablet that names the year of construction. Documentary evidence of this kind is uncommon, and it removes most of the guesswork that usually surrounds the dating of older wooden buildings.
What to Look For on a Visit
The approach matters as much as the pagoda. Visitors climb stone steps and pass through a Niō gate of 1686 into a precinct of roughly 1.4 hectares, where more than ten halls and gates stand among tall cedars. The forest keeps the buildings cool and dim, and the pagoda comes into view between trunks rather than across an open court.
Stand close and look up. The deep eaves that the hanegi support are easiest to read from directly below, where the layered rafters fan out overhead. The giboshi railing on the first story repays a second glance as well, its rounded caps catching what light filters through the canopy.
A short walk away sits a stone hōkyōin-tō, a reliquary pagoda carved in 1335. It is the oldest surviving structure at Honzan-ji and a National Important Cultural Property in its own right. The temple's main hall, built in 1350, holds the same national rank. A full dismantling and repair of the pagoda between 1987 and 1989 returned its timber and roof to sound condition, so what visitors see today stays close to the 1652 form.
Around the Temple
Honzan-ji rewards a slow visit. Beyond the pagoda and main hall, the grounds hold the Jōgyō-dō meditation hall of 1519, a mausoleum of 1652 raised in the gongen-zukuri shrine style for the Mori lords and later used by the Matsudaira family, and a samurai row house of 1845 set on a stone base that gives it the look of a small fortress. Several of these carry prefectural cultural-property status.
The temple is the first stop on the Mimasaka Saigoku pilgrimage of thirty-three Kannon sites, and its history threads into one of Japan's major religious figures. In 1132 the parents of Hōnen, who would found the Pure Land school of Buddhism, are said to have prayed here for a safe birth. His birthplace temple, Tanjō-ji, stands a short drive away in neighboring Kumenan and pairs naturally with a stop at Honzan-ji.
Misaki itself is known across Japan for tamago-kake-gohan, raw egg stirred into hot rice, and several local restaurants build a meal around the town's eggs. For walkers, a marked nature trail links the temple with Chiarai Falls and the Yoshii highland to the southeast.
Honzan-ji sits well back in the hills. Drivers reach it in about 30 minutes from the Tsuyama interchange on the Chūgoku Expressway, and the temple keeps a large car park. Without a car, the nearest rail point is JR Yuge Station, roughly 20 minutes away by taxi. The road in narrows in places, so allow time.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Okayama
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Three-Story Pagoda at Honzanji Temple
- [ Kurashiki Bikan District & Korakuen Garden Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the pagoda built, and by whom?
- It was rebuilt in 1652, in the early Edo period, under Mori Nagatsugu, the second lord of the Tsuyama domain. A surviving ridge tablet confirms the year.
- How do I get there?
- About 30 minutes by car from the Tsuyama interchange on the Chūgoku Expressway, with parking on site. By train, ride to JR Yuge Station and take a taxi for the last 20 minutes or so.
- Can I go inside the pagoda?
- The interior is not open to visitors, which is normal for pagodas of this type. The grounds are open, and the building can be viewed and photographed closely from outside.
- What else is worth seeing at Honzan-ji?
- The main hall of 1350 and a stone reliquary pagoda of 1335 are both National Important Cultural Properties. The precinct also holds a 1519 meditation hall, a 1652 mausoleum, and a 1686 gate.
Basic Information
| Name | Honzan-ji Three-Story Pagoda (本山寺三重塔) |
|---|---|
| Location | Sadamune, Misaki-cho, Kume-gun, Okayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (national), designated December 28, 1980 |
| Date | Jōō 1 (1652), early Edo period |
| Structure | Three-bay, three-story pagoda with a wood-shingle (kokera-buki) roof |
| Height | About 26 m, the tallest three-story pagoda in Okayama Prefecture |
| Count | 1 structure (one inscribed ridge tablet included in the designation) |
| Owner / Sect | Honzan-ji, Tendai school |
| Access | About 30 min by car from Tsuyama IC; about 20 min by taxi from JR Yuge Station |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/3103
- Cultural Heritage Online
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/195760
- Okayama Kanko WEB (Okayama Prefecture Tourism Federation)
- https://www.okayama-kanko.jp/spot/11898
- Okayama Prefecture, "The Path to Honzan-ji and Chiarai Falls"
- https://www.pref.okayama.jp/page/573759.html
Last verified: 2026.06.02