One Water Pavilion, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property since 2021
Kannonshoji Temple Chozuya (観音正寺手水舎, Kannonshoji Temizusha) stands at Kinugasayama 2, Ishidera, Azuchi, Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture, a Showa-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, roofed in copper sheet, with an area of 1.5 square metres. The date field reads early Showa and the year field 1928.
An Area of 1.5 Square Metres
This is the smallest structure met here.
The structural field gives timber, copper sheet roofing, and an area of 1.5 square metres.
The Kasuga Shrine moshiden covered 12 square metres, one bay across and one deep. That is small; this is about an eighth of it.
The former Shuseikan machinery factory covers 977.5 square metres and the Ikinariya storehouse 59.
This is two posts and a roof. The record notes 2 main posts with stone struts beside them, tied by a curved beam.
The Kaei bridge at Nishinomiya, at 6.0 metres, is the shortest bridge met here. This is the smallest building.
Area and Floor Area, Used for Different Buildings
Among the 6 buildings registered on one day, the word for size varies.
This pavilion and the bell house are given an area: 1.5 square metres and 10 square metres.
The Jizo hall, the goma hall and the fuda hall are given a floor area: 11, 43 and 19 square metres.
The water pavilion and the bell house have no walls, being posts and a roof. The three halls each enclose a single room.
Whether a structure is walled appears to decide which word is used.
The garden gate is given neither, but a frontage of 2.2 metres, since it is a gate and measured by the width one passes through. Three ways of stating size stand side by side.
Six Buildings Registered on One Day
The buildings of one temple were entered together.
At Kannonshoji, the water pavilion, the Jizo hall, the bell house, the garden gate, the goma hall, the fuda hall and the study are all registered, every one of them on 14 October 2021.
At Ikinariya, 10 buildings are registered; at the Shigeta residence, 8; at Kasuga Shrine, 8 or more.
Those, however, were entered in different years: the Ikinariya storehouse in 2000 and the Shigeta main building in 2001.
Here everything went on the register at once. The dates of building run from 1844 for the garden gate to 1928 for four of the others, a span of 84 years, yet the registration is a single day.
The Kuwanomidera main hall stands on the same mountain. That was designated in 1904, under a different system and far earlier.
Visiting
The pavilion stands at Kinugasayama 2, Ishidera, Azuchi, Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture, owned by the temple.
Its position is recorded: it stands north of the garden gate, ridged north to south and facing west.
Of its making: gabled and roofed in copper sheet, with 2 main posts carrying stone struts and tied by a curved beam, brackets with struts supporting arms, and the arms carrying the purlin.
The record adds three-block brackets above the main posts and a frog-leg strut at the centre of the beam. Small as it is, it carries bracketing and a strut.
The assessment closes that it sets in order the historic setting of a pilgrimage temple. Setting in order, in those words, follows the registration criterion about contributing to the historic landscape. 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 Chozuya
- [ Hikone Castle & Lake Biwa Cruise Experiences ]
Q&A
- When was the pavilion 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?
- An area of 1.5 square metres. Two posts carry a roof, making it the smallest structure met here.
- Are other buildings registered here?
- Yes. The Jizo hall, the bell house, the garden gate, the goma hall, the fuda hall and the study were all registered on the same day.
- What is valued in it?
- The record closes that it sets in order the historic setting of a pilgrimage temple, following the registration criterion about contributing to the historic landscape.
- Where does it stand?
- North of the garden gate, ridged north to south and facing west. The temple sits on the same mountain as the Kuwanomidera main hall.
Basic Information
| Name | Kannonshoji Temple Chozuya (観音正寺手水舎, Kannonshoji Temizusha) |
|---|---|
| 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, roofed in copper sheet, with an area of 1.5 square metres. Gabled, with 2 main posts carrying stone struts and tied by a curved beam; brackets with struts support arms that carry the purlin. Three-block brackets sit above the main posts and a frog-leg strut at the centre of the beam. The date field reads early Showa and the year field 1928 |
| Owner | Kannonshoji |
| Public Access | Within the grounds of a temple in the hills; visiting follows its own arrangements |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: the Kannonshoji water pavilion
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/520194
- Cultural Heritage Online: the Kannonshoji garden gate
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/553925
- 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
