Kounji Temple Main Gate

What Is Kounji Temple Main Gate?

Kounji Temple Main Gate (功運寺山門, Kōun-ji Sanmon) is the main gate of Kounji, also known as Banshoin Kounji, a Soto Zen temple in Kamitakada, Nakano Ward, Tokyo; built in 1914, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) of Japan in 2014. It is a single-bay gate of the Kōraimon type, 3.2 meters wide, opening onto the approach on the south side of the grounds, with a lattice wall on each side.

The date matters. In 1914 Banshoin, one of the two temples that make up today's Kounji, moved here from Ushigome, so Kounji Temple Main Gate went up in the very year the temple settled in Kamitakada. Its registered name carries the Kounji name, but Kounji itself arrived from Mita only later, and the merger came later still. The gate was already standing on this approach when the second temple came. It was renovated in 2010.

Why Kounji Temple Main Gate Was Registered

Kounji Temple Main Gate was registered for its contribution to Japan's historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its generous use of fine zelkova (keyaki) timber and the high quality of its construction. Nakano City makes the same points, calling it a koraimon of real standing, carefully built.

A koraimon is a gate type familiar from castle entrances. A small gabled roof sits over the two main posts, and a second, separate roof covers each of the rear support posts set behind them. What the official description praises at Kounji Temple Main Gate is not carving or ornament but the quality of the wood and the workmanship.

What to Look for at the Main Gate

Look first at the roofs, which are covered in two different ways. The central roof of Kounji Temple Main Gate is a gable (Kirizuma-zukuri) laid with alternating round and flat tiles (Hongawarabuki). The roofs over the rear posts and over the side walls, each running two bays out to left and right, use lighter, interlocking pantiles (Sangawara-buki). The heaviest tiling sits at the center and the roofline lightens toward the edges.

Then the frame. The main posts are square in section and rise all the way to the ridge beam. Above the crossbeam that ties their tops together, a pair of stacked beams carries the purlins. The eaves use a double layer of closely spaced rafters, which gives a fine line of shadow under the edge of the roof.

Both the doors and the side walls are made of vertical lattice. Because they share the same pattern, the 3.2-meter gate and the walls on either side read as one continuous front. Keyaki is a hard wood with a pronounced grain, and up close you can see it in the posts and door frames.

Visiting Kounji Temple Main Gate

Kounji Temple Main Gate faces the approach, so its front can be seen from there: the posts running up to the ridge, the lattice doors and the side walls are all on that side. The temple does not publish gate hours, and the doors may be closed when you arrive.

This is the temple's entrance, and there is a kindergarten on the grounds, so if you stop to look for a while, stand where you will not block people coming and going. The temple does not say whether photography is allowed; check before taking pictures. Directions and general visiting notes are on the Kounji Temple page.