A Stone Pagoda That Outlived Its Temple
The Five-Storied Stone Pagoda (五重塔, Gojūnotō, also written Gojū-no-tō) in Anyōji-chō, Ōmihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture, is a granite tower carved in Kangen 4 (1246), in the early Kamakura period, and designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan on 20 March 1954.
It stands at the foot of a low bluff where National Route 477, running south past the hilltop settlement of Ueno-chō, swings sharply to the southeast. There is no gate here, no hall, no resident priest. The tower rises straight out of the roadside embankment, 4.18 metres tall in its present incomplete state, with traffic passing a few paces away.
The temple it was carved for is gone. Anyōji, a Tendai establishment that once stood roughly 700 metres to the southeast, is said to have burned in Genki 2 (1571) during Oda Nobunaga's campaigns in the province. Three Buddhist sculptures now kept at Shōgonji, a Jōdo-sect temple in neighbouring Ueno-chō and themselves Important Cultural Properties, are likewise thought to have come from Anyōji. The pagoda stayed where it was.
Ownership records make the point plainly. The pagoda belongs not to a temple or a family but to Anyōji-chō itself, the district that took its name from the vanished temple. A neighbourhood holds the title to a nationally designated monument.
Why the Pagoda Was Designated
Ōmi, the old province that corresponds to modern Shiga, produced medieval stone pagodas in extraordinary numbers. Granite from the surrounding ranges, masons skilled enough to work it, and a landscape thick with temples combined to fill the province with stone sotoba, gorintō reliquary towers and layered pagodas between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Almost none of them carries a date.
This one does. Cut into the south face of the first-storey shaft is an inscription giving Kangen 4, the year 1246.
That single line is the reason the tower matters to architectural historians. Undated stone pagodas can be placed in a rough sequence by their proportions and the style of their carving, but a sequence needs anchors, and dated examples from the first half of the thirteenth century are scarce. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the work with unusual economy: a stone five-storied pagoda, one unit, early Kamakura period, designation number 01271.
The designation was announced on the same day as that of the Saimyōji Five-Storied Stone Pagoda in Moriyama City, some 20 kilometres to the southwest, which holds the adjacent number 01270. The two were evaluated together as reference points for stone carving in Kamakura-period Ōmi. They are separate monuments in separate towns, and a visitor planning a trip should not confuse one for the other: the Anyōji-chō tower is roadside and unattended, the Moriyama tower stands inside a working temple precinct.
What to Look For
Begin at the bottom, where the carving is boldest.
The base block is framed by a narrow raised border, and within that frame sits a single large kōzama, the ogee-arched panel Japanese masons used to lighten a solid face of stone. It spans roughly 82 centimetres, and the border around it is startlingly thin, barely five centimetres, so that the panel seems to press outward against its own edges. Inside it a sankeiren relief unfolds: three lotus stems, a closed central bud flanked by leaves shown edge-on as flattened triangles. The same design repeats on the visible faces.
Above the base, the first-storey shaft is noticeably taller than it is wide. Each face carries a seated Buddha cut in high relief on a lotus throne, sunk into a boat-shaped recess, in the four-directional arrangement known as shihōbutsu. What sets these figures apart is the depth of the cutting. They have shoulders and knees that read as volume rather than as outline, which is not what one usually finds on stone of this scale.
Then look up, and register what is absent. The sōrin, the mast-like finial that crowns any Buddhist pagoda, has lost its ukebana and fukubachi along with the lowest ring of the kurin. The Shiga Prefectural Association for the Protection of Cultural Properties notes the loss, and so does the interpretive board at the site. The Agency for Cultural Affairs entry, by contrast, describes the structure without qualification, in contrast to its entry for the Moriyama pagoda, which specifically records a missing upper finial. Visitors should expect a truncated summit.
The five roofs repay slow attention. Their eaves lift only slightly and their slopes are shallow, and the stone slabs are thick. The result is a tower that sits rather than soars, with none of the tapering lightness a wooden pagoda achieves. Seen against the embankment in low afternoon light, the stacked shadows under each eave give the whole thing a weight that photographs rarely convey.
Visiting costs nothing and needs no appointment. The pagoda stands in the open at every hour, and you can walk up and put your hand on it. Two practical cautions apply. Route 477 carries steady traffic and the shoulder is narrow, so watch the road rather than the carving when crossing. And there is no parking at the monument itself; JR Shinohara Station on the Biwako Line lies about 400 metres away, a five-minute walk, with paid parking in front of the station for those arriving by car.
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Q&A
- Can I visit the Five-Storied Stone Pagoda in Anyōji-chō, Ōmihachiman? Are there opening hours or an admission fee?
- Yes. The pagoda stands on public land beside National Route 477 with no fence, no gate and no attendant. There are no opening hours, no admission fee and no need to book. Daylight is strongly recommended, since the site has no lighting and the road shoulder is narrow.
- How do I reach the Anyōji-chō Five-Storied Stone Pagoda from the nearest station?
- JR Shinohara Station on the Biwako Line is the closest stop, roughly 400 metres from the pagoda, which is about five minutes on foot. The tower sits on the south side of Route 477 at the point where the road bends southeast below the hill of Ueno-chō. Drivers should use the paid parking in front of Shinohara Station, as there is no parking at the monument.
- Is photography allowed at the Anyōji-chō Five-Storied Stone Pagoda?
- Photography is unrestricted. The pagoda is outdoors and freely approachable, and no signage prohibits cameras or tripods. Please do not stand in the carriageway to compose a shot, and avoid climbing on the base, which carries the oldest carving on the monument.
- How old is the Anyōji-chō Five-Storied Stone Pagoda, and how is the date known?
- It dates to 1246. The south face of the first-storey shaft bears an inscription reading Kangen 4, which fixes the year of carving. Dated stone pagodas from the first half of the thirteenth century are uncommon, so this inscription is the single most valuable thing about the monument to specialists.
- Is the Anyōji-chō pagoda the same as the Saimyōji Five-Storied Stone Pagoda in Moriyama?
- No. They are two different monuments about 20 kilometres apart, both designated Important Cultural Properties on 20 March 1954 with consecutive designation numbers. The Anyōji-chō tower stands unattended beside a road in Ōmihachiman and dates to 1246; the Saimyōji tower stands in a temple precinct in Moriyama and is assigned to the late Kamakura period. Because the Anyōji-chō monument is registered under the plain name "Gojūnotō", the two are easily conflated in search results.
Basic Information
| Name | Gojūnotō (五重塔), Five-Storied Stone Pagoda, Anyōji-chō |
|---|---|
| Location | Anyōji-chō, Ōmihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (Structures); designation number 01271 |
| Year Designated | 20 March 1954 (Shōwa 29) |
| Quantity | 1 unit |
| Dimensions | Approximately 4.18 m in present height; granite |
| Owner | Anyōji-chō (the local district) |
| Public Access | Open at all times, free of charge, no reservation required; no on-site parking |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database — Gojūnotō
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/102/1410
- Shiga Prefectural Association for the Protection of Cultural Properties — Shin Ōmi Meisho Zue No. 141
- https://www.shiga-bunkazai.jp/shigabun-shinbun/best-place-in-shiga/新近江名所圖会 第141回/
- Ōmihachiman City — Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.omihachiman.lg.jp/kanko/rekishi/1/index.html
- Shiga Prefectural Association for the Protection of Cultural Properties — Official Site
- https://www.shiga-bunkazai.jp/
Last verified: 2026.08.11