What the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging is
The Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging (方広寺行在所), at Hokoji in the Okuyama district of Inasa-cho, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, is a shoin-style residence of 1868 that entered the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 10 September 2019. It faces south from a site north of the Sanshokaku.
An anzaisho is the temporary residence prepared for an emperor while travelling. This building served as the lodging of the Meiji emperor at the Iida family honjin, the official inn of Arai post station on the Tokaido highway, and was moved to its present site and remodelled in 1885. Further repairs followed in the early Showa years.
It is a single-storey timber building with a pantiled roof and a floor area of 167 square metres. The hipped roof is entered from the gable end, and a lean-to runs right around the building.
Why the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging was registered
It was registered as a model of design, number 22-266. Only two of the twenty-two registered buildings at Hokoji were entered for their design rather than their contribution to the landscape: the Hansobo Hall of Worship and this one.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs record describes it as a formal residence of high quality. It was fitted out to receive an emperor, which made it a special part even within a honjin, itself the most formal accommodation a post station could offer.
A relocated building qualifies for registration when the circumstances of the move are documented and its later form has been kept. Some 140 years have passed since the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging was brought here in 1885, and the arrangement centred on the raised room survives.
What to look for at the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging
The plan is the thing to study. A raised room sits at the north end and a 24-mat antechamber to the south. Lifting the floor of one room above the other states the difference in rank between the person seated there and those waiting below, and that device sits at the heart of shoin design.
An entrance porch is attached at the western end of the front. Its roof swells upward toward the eaves in a convex curve, the single curved element against the straight planes of the hipped roof behind.
At the northern end of the east side there is a tea room. Formal reception and private tea occupy the same building, and the lean-to carried around all four sides is what gathers those very different rooms into one envelope.
Visiting the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging
The temple publishes no notice about interior access to the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging. Whether the raised room and the tea room can be seen is a question for the temple office.
The exterior is visible from the north side of the Sanshokaku. From directly in front, the hipped roof, the surrounding lean-to and the curved porch roof at the west end fall into one view. The direction of the roof slope shows that the building is entered from its gable end.
Arai post station, where the building began, lies in what is now Kosai City, about an hour by car from Hokoji. Directions and admission are covered on the Hokoji Temple page.
Q&A
- What is the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging?
- A temporary residence prepared for an emperor. This building served as the Meiji emperor's lodging at the Iida family official inn at Arai post station on the Tokaido, and was moved to Hokoji in 1885.
- When was the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging built?
- The building dates from 1868. It was relocated and remodelled in 1885 and repaired again in the early Showa years.
- What is the interior of the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging like?
- A raised room at the north end and a 24-mat antechamber to the south, with an entrance porch under a convex roof at the western end of the front and a tea room at the north end of the east side.
- Can visitors see the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging?
- No notice of interior access is published. The exterior can be seen from the north side of the Sanshokaku, and entry should be discussed with the temple office.
- What cultural property status does the Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging hold?
- It became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 10 September 2019, registration number 22-266, under the criterion of being a model of design.
Basic Information
| Name | Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging |
|---|---|
| Location | 1577-1 Okuyama, Inasa-cho, Hamana-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), registration number 22-266 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 10 September 2019 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber building, tiled roof, floor area 167 square metres |
| Owner | Hokoji Temple (religious corporation) |
| Public Access | No published notice of interior access; exterior visible from north of the Sanshokaku |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Hokoji Temple Imperial Lodging
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012916
- Daihonzan Hokoji: Grounds guide
- https://www.houkouji.or.jp/guide/
- Daihonzan Hokoji: About the temple
- https://www.houkouji.or.jp/about/
Last verified: 2026.09.17
