What the Chokushi-mon Is
On a stone wall before the recessed front of the Founder’s Hall, facing south, stands the Chokushi-mon of Hōkō-ji. It is a four-legged gate that frames the front of the Founder’s Hall: a timber structure with a copper-plate roof and a frontage of 4.1 metres, with mud-plaster walls extending forward to left and right. It is gable-roofed in copper plate, with eave karahafu gables front and back.
It was built in 1907 and repaired in 1935. Its doors are panelled, its brackets are three-block clusters, and its gable ornament is a beam and bottle-shaped strut with wing-shaped brackets. A chrysanthemum crest is set on the frog-leg strut above the tie-beam, giving weight to the front of the Founder’s Hall.
A Gate That Graces the Founder’s Hall
The Founder’s Hall is the central hall enshrining Hōkō-ji’s founder, Mumon Gensen, and the Chokushi-mon guards its front. For a temple whose founder was an imperial prince, raising a chrysanthemum crest on the gate to the founder’s hall is a way of stating that lineage in architecture.
Value as a Weighty Four-Legged Gate
The Chokushi-mon was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) on 10 September 2019, registration number 22-271. Its listing cites the criterion of being a model of design.
What is valued is its form as a four-legged gate that gives weight to the front of the Founder’s Hall. The gable copper roof with eave karahafu gables front and back, the panelled doors, the three-block brackets, and the wing-bracketed beam-and-bottle-strut gable are all brought together into a gate of high formality.
Set on the stone wall before the recessed front of the Founder’s Hall, the gate composes a single space with the hall. Its significance lies in the way gate, wall, and hall run together to grace the place where the founder is enshrined.
Looking Up at the Eave Karahafu and the Crest
A four-legged gate has two support posts before and behind the main posts. On the Chokushi-mon, eave karahafu gables are set front and back of the roof, so that an upward-curving line appears on both faces. Looking up at the gate atop the stone wall conveys the high standing of the space leading to the Founder’s Hall.
A chrysanthemum crest is set on the frog-leg strut above the tie-beam. As with the Chokushi Genkan at the Main Hall, the lineage of a temple whose founder was an imperial prince is shown here too. The three-block brackets and the wing-bracketed gable ornament reveal the careful work of a head temple.
Beyond the Chokushi-mon lie the Founder’s Hall and, joined to its north face, the Shōdō. Keeping in mind the flow of passing through the gate toward the space where the founder is enshrined makes clear the gate’s role as the front of the Founder’s Hall.
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Q&A
- What kind of gate is the Chokushi-mon?
- It is a four-legged gate that frames the front of the Founder’s Hall. It stands facing south on a stone wall before the recessed front of the hall, with mud-plaster walls extending forward to left and right.
- When was it built?
- It was built in 1907 and repaired in 1935. It became a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 10 September 2019, registration number 22-271.
- Where is the chrysanthemum crest?
- It is set on the frog-leg strut above the tie-beam. The motif relates to the founder Mumon Gensen being held a son of Emperor Go-Daigo; a similar crest appears on the Main Hall’s Chokushi Genkan.
- What is a four-legged gate?
- It is a gate form with two support posts each before and behind the main posts. The Chokushi-mon is gable-roofed in copper with eave karahafu gables front and back, fitted with panelled doors.
Basic Information
| Name | Hōkō-ji Chokushi-mon (Imperial Envoy’s Gate) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1577-1 Okuyama, Inasa-chō, Hamana-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka |
| Status | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); reg. no. 22-271 |
| Registered | 10 September 2019 |
| Units | 1 building |
| Structure | Timber, copper-plate roof, 4.1 m frontage, mud-plaster walls; four-legged gate with eave karahafu front and back |
| Date | 1907; repaired 1935 |
| Owner | Hōkō-ji (religious corporation) |
| Access | Within the precinct, before the Founder’s Hall; exterior viewable |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs National Cultural Properties Database — Hōkō-ji Chokushi-mon
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012921
- Hōkō-ji Head Temple — Official Site
- https://houkouji.or.jp/about/
- Rinnou.net — Rinzai & Ōbaku Zen: Hōkō-ji
- https://rinnou.net/head-temple/houkou/
- Shizuoka Tourism (Hello Navi) — Hōkō-ji Guide
- https://hellonavi.jp/article/hokoji
Last verified: 2026.07.07