Ishiyama-Dera Temple Tahoto Pagoda

Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō: The Oldest Dated Tahōtō in Japan

The Ishiyama-Dera Temple Tahoto Pagoda (石山寺多宝塔, Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō) is an early Kamakura-period two-storied pagoda at Ishiyama-dera in Ōtsu City, Shiga Prefecture, dated by an ink inscription to 1194, and it was designated a National Treasure in 1951. It is a 3-bay tahōtō roofed in cypress bark, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it both the oldest and the most beautiful tahōtō in existence.

A tahōtō is a pagoda type developed in Japan: a square lower storey, a white dome-like collar called the kamebara, and a round upper storey on top. The Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō stands on the temple's upper terrace, above the great wollastonite outcrop that gives Ishiyama-dera its name, and the view of rock and pagoda together is the image most people carry away from the temple.

According to the temple, the date comes from an ink inscription on the underside of the altar platform's frame in the lower storey. The temple also credits Minamoto no Yoritomo as donor. The inscription fixes the year; the donor is temple tradition.

Why the Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō Is a National Treasure

The Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō was first protected under the old system in 1899 and was designated a National Treasure under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties on June 9, 1951. The designation also covers 1 wooden ridge tablet.

Its importance rests on a firm date and a fine form. No surviving tahōtō has an earlier confirmed construction year, so it serves as the benchmark for what early Kamakura tahōtō looked like. The Agency for Cultural Affairs praises the tightly drawn-in upper storey and the balance between the 2 levels, and the harmony of a gently pitched bark roof crowned by a bronze finial.

How it is built

In the lower storey, posts with broadly chamfered corners carry single-stepped demitsudo brackets and 2 tiers of chamfered rafters. The upper storey rests on round posts with 4-stepped yotesaki brackets that push out 2 tiers of deep eaves. The upper storey is much narrower than the lower, and that contrast gives the whole pagoda its lightness.

Inside is a railed altar under coved, finely latticed ceilings over both inner and outer areas, and the interior is painted throughout, posts included. The main image is a seated Dainichi Buddha identified as the work of the Kamakura sculptor Kaikei, and the temple says the 4 central pillars are painted with 54 esoteric Buddhist deities. The statue and the pillar paintings each have Important Cultural Property status.

Repairs

The pagoda has been repaired several times. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a full dismantling repair in 1932 to 1933 and reroofing in 2011 to 2012. The temple notes that the previous bark reroofing had been in 1965; after 46 years, leaks had begun to rot the structure, and the new roof was completed on March 23, 2012.

What to Look For

Begin in front of the wollastonite and look up. Above the pale rock rise 2 layered bark roofs, and from this distance the balance between the storeys that the Agency for Cultural Affairs admires is easy to see.

Then climb to the terrace in front of the pagoda and study the eaves. The brackets of the lower storey project only a single step, while those of the upper storey reach out in 4, carrying a far deeper overhang on slender round posts. Looking straight up from below shows the difference best.

Just west of the pagoda stand 2 stone hōkyōin-tō said to be memorials to Minamoto no Yoritomo and Kamegaya Zenni. Seen alongside a pagoda the temple credits to Yoritomo, they show how strongly tradition ties Ishiyama-dera to the Kamakura shogunate.

Visiting the Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō

The interior of the Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō is closed. Visitors view the exterior at close range and pray from outside. Temple admission is required, and the exterior can be seen at any time during opening hours.

Photography of the exterior is free and needs no permit, and the temple lists the Tahōtō as a permitted location. Walk east from the Main Hall, pass the wollastonite and climb the stone steps to reach the terrace. Directions, opening hours and admission for the whole temple are on the Ishiyama-dera page.