One Gate, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property since 2021
Kannonshoji Temple Shoin Garden Gate (観音正寺書院庭門, Kannonshoji Shoin Niwamon) stands at Kinugasayama 2, Ishidera, Azuchi, Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture, an Edo-period structure entered on the register of tangible cultural properties on 14 October 2021. It is a registered property rather than a designated one.
The quantity is one building. The owner is the temple.
The structure is timber, tiled, with a frontage of 2.2 metres. The date field reads Edo and the year field 1844.
Measured by Frontage Alone
Not by area, but by the width one passes through.
The structural field gives timber, tiled, with a frontage of 2.2 metres.
The water pavilion registered on the same day is given an area of 1.5 square metres, and the bell house 10 square metres.
The Jizo hall, the goma hall and the fuda hall are given floor areas: 11, 43 and 19 square metres.
Only this one is measured by frontage. A gate is something to pass through, so width matters more than extent.
Within one temple, three ways of stating size stand together. The Kaei bridge at Nishinomiya was likewise given a length and a width, with no area recorded.
Dated 1844, the Oldest of the Seven
Among the buildings registered on one day, this one stands apart in date.
It is of the Edo period, 1844.
The Jizo hall is Meiji, 1881. The water pavilion, the bell house, the goma hall and the fuda hall are all early Showa, 1928.
From 1844 to 1928 is a span of 84 years, and this gate is the earliest within it.
At the Nikaido residence, 90 years separated two buildings. That is a pair.
Here it is the oldest of seven. The record closes that the gate is valuable as an early modern structure surviving together with the study it serves. Surviving from that period is itself the reason.
An Unusual Way of Fixing the Posts
The assessment rests on a single joint.
The Agency records that the main posts, rectangular in section, are carried up through the lintel and pinned, and that this is unusual.
The lintel is the member running across the top of the gate. The posts pass through it and are fixed above with pins.
With the Kumedera pagoda, the building was called conventional yet well proportioned, its materials and workmanship excellent. That judges the whole.
At the Shigeta main building, a formal entrance was said to show the standing of the house. That concerns what a part signifies.
Here it is the joint itself, the way post meets lintel, that is called unusual. The gate is of a single bay with one doorway, gabled and roofed in pantiles, with widely spaced rafters.
Visiting
The gate stands at Kinugasayama 2, Ishidera, Azuchi, Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture, owned by the temple.
Its position is recorded: it opens on the west face of the earthen wall that turns at a right angle around the garden north of the study.
The wall enclosing the garden bends squarely, and the gate opens on its western side.
Both the main posts and the struts are square in section, and a pair of boarded doors hangs in the opening.
The temple stands on the same mountain as the Kuwanomidera main hall, which was designated in 1904, under a different system and far earlier. The temple lies in the hills, and visiting follows its own arrangements. Check before travelling.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Shiga
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Kannonshoji Temple Shoin Garden Gate
- [ Hikone Castle & Lake Biwa Cruise Experiences ]
Q&A
- When was the gate registered?
- On 14 October 2021, as a registered tangible cultural property. It is registered rather than designated, and the quantity is one building.
- How large is it?
- A frontage of 2.2 metres. It is measured by the width one passes through, unlike the other buildings at the temple, which are given areas.
- When was it built?
- In 1844, during the Edo period. It is the oldest of the seven buildings registered on the same day; the others date from 1881 and 1928.
- What is valued in it?
- The Agency calls the way the posts are carried through the lintel and pinned unusual, and the gate valuable as an early modern structure surviving with its study.
- Where does it stand?
- On the west face of the earthen wall that turns at a right angle around the garden north of the study.
Basic Information
| Name | Kannonshoji Temple Shoin Garden Gate (観音正寺書院庭門, Kannonshoji Shoin Niwamon) |
|---|---|
| Location | Kinugasayama 2, Ishidera, Azuchi, Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered tangible cultural property (structure, religious architecture); registered rather than designated; 7 buildings at the temple were registered on the same day |
| Year Designated | 2021 (14 October), registered |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, tiled, with a frontage of 2.2 metres. A gate of 1 bay with 1 doorway, gabled and roofed in pantiles, with widely spaced rafters. Both main posts and struts are square in section, and a pair of boarded doors hangs in the opening. The main posts, rectangular in section, are carried up through the lintel and pinned. The date field reads Edo and the year field 1844 |
| Owner | Kannonshoji |
| Public Access | Within the grounds of a temple in the hills; visiting follows its own arrangements |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: the Kannonshoji garden gate
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/553925
- Cultural Heritage Online: the Kannonshoji water pavilion
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/520194
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
- Omihachiman City: cultural properties
- https://www.city.omihachiman.lg.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.11
