Jozenji Temple Sutra Repository

What the Jozenji Temple Sutra Repository is

Jozenji Temple Sutra Repository (上善寺経蔵, Jōzen-ji Kyōzō) is a plastered storehouse for Buddhist scriptures at Jozenji in Sakaemachi, Izumisano City, Osaka Prefecture, built in the late Edo period between 1830 and 1867 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on July 8, 2008, under registration number 27-0503.

A kyōzō is a building for keeping sutras. This one stands west of the main hall and faces east, so that it and the hall look at each other across the grounds. Izumisano City's official tourism site calls it the hōzō, or treasure house, and describes it as the place where the temple's treasures are stored.

The plan is close to square, 4.9 metres across the front and 5.0 metres deep, with an area of 28 square metres. A Hōgyō-zukuri pyramidal roof in Hongawarabuki tiling rises to a single point, and a one-bay Kōhai canopy shelters the entrance.

Built against fire

Jozenji Temple Sutra Repository was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

The walls are Dozo-zukuri: a timber frame packed in thick earth and finished outside with white Shikkui lime plaster. It is the same fireproofing logic used for merchants' storehouses in Japanese towns, applied here to protect scriptures and temple treasures.

The central doorway has two sets of doors. On the outside is a pair of lattice doors; behind them sit sliding doors that part to left and right, finished in plaster. The lattice lets air through on ordinary days, while the plastered doors can be drawn shut when fire threatens, sealing the building inside its earthen shell.

Inside, a low timber floor is laid and the ceiling is a Saobuchi-tenjō of thin battens. The walls are plastered, yet the posts and tie beams are left exposed rather than buried in the plaster, so the room feels closer to a small worship hall than to a storehouse.

White walls under a pyramidal tile roof stand out among the timber buildings around them, and the registration puts its weight on that role in the scene rather than on construction technique alone.

What to look for

Stand in front of the main hall and turn to face west. The apex of the pyramidal roof lines up with the centre of the repository's front, and the canopy and doorway stack neatly beneath it. The face-to-face arrangement of hall and storehouse is easiest to appreciate from here.

Closer in, look at the doubled doors. The plastered sliding doors behind the lattice are thick enough to close flush with the wall.

Along the base of the walls and at the corners you may see layers of plaster or patched repairs. Earthen storehouses survive through regular replastering, and those marks of upkeep are part of the building's history.

Visiting the Jozenji Temple Sutra Repository

The exterior can be seen from the grounds during the temple's opening hours. The building faces east, so its front is lit in the morning.

No public schedule for opening the interior has been published, and visitors should expect the doors to be closed. If you hope to see inside, or want to know whether photography is allowed, contact the temple in advance.

Directions to the temple and its opening hours are covered on the Jozenji page.