The Bell Tower of Hōzō-ji
The bell tower at Hōzō-ji measures three bays across and two bays deep, and its lower story is wrapped in a white plastered skirt that widens toward the ground. This flared base is called a hakamagoshi, after the pleated hakama trousers it resembles, and it appears on many Japanese temple bell towers. What sets this one apart is the roof above it. Almost every bell tower of this type carries a hip-and-gable roof, yet here the builders chose a four-sided hipped roof (yosemune-zukuri) finished in formal round-and-flat tiles. The combination is uncommon enough that it has long drawn the attention of architectural historians.
The building stands in Hirogawa, a small town on the Kii Channel coast of Wakayama Prefecture. It belongs to Hōzō-ji, a temple of the Seizan branch of the Jōdo (Pure Land) school. On 26 February 1947 the tower was designated an Important Cultural Property.
A Tower That Moved Three Times
Hōzō-ji was founded in 1436 by the priest Myōshū. During the Muromachi period it grew into the principal Pure Land temple of southern Kishū and is recorded as having held twenty-five sub-temples.
The bell tower, however, is older than the temple's standing here, and it reached this site by a roundabout route. According to temple tradition, it first stood at Shōraku-ji in nearby Yuasa. In 1695 it was taken apart and reassembled at Hiro Hachiman Shrine. When the early Meiji government ordered the separation of Shinto and Buddhism, the tower was relocated a third time, to Hōzō-ji, where it has remained since.
Its exact date of construction is not known. No founding inscription survives, so specialists date it on the evidence of its joinery, bracketing, and eaves. These point to a date no later than the middle Muromachi period, roughly the years between 1393 and 1466.
Why It Was Designated
The tower is built in the Zen style (karayō), the Chinese-derived manner of carpentry that entered Japan alongside Zen Buddhism and shaped much of medieval temple architecture. The bracket complexes and the treatment of the eaves are singled out in official descriptions as the features most worth examining.
The hipped roof is the rarer point. A bell tower of this period would ordinarily be topped with a hip-and-gable roof, the form that allows a decorative triangular gable at each end. By giving the structure a plain hipped roof, the carpenters produced a silhouette with few surviving parallels among designated bell towers, and it is this departure, together with the quality of the medieval woodwork, that secured the building its protected status.
The Night the Bell Was Rung
The tower carries a second story that belongs less to architecture than to the history of disaster. In late 1854 a great Nankai earthquake struck, and a tsunami bore down on the village of Hiro the following day. A local merchant named Hamaguchi Goryō, fearing that people fleeing in darkness would lose their way, set fire to harvested rice sheaves on the high ground above the village so that the flames would guide them upward. The act saved many lives and was retold for generations as Inamura no Hi, "The Burning Rice Sheaves."
The bell hung in this tower, which then stood at Hiro Hachiman Shrine, is said to have been sounded to warn the villagers as the water approached. Hōzō-ji itself sheltered survivors, and a storehouse that held the rice given out to them still stands on the grounds. Hirogawa's role in this episode is now recognized within the Japan Heritage story known as Hyakusei no Ando, "Security for a Hundred Generations."
Visiting and the Surrounding Area
Hirogawa lies along the JR Kisei Main Line; Hirokawabeach and Yuasa are the closest stations, and the town is an easy stop on the route south from Wakayama City. The bell tower sits within the temple precinct and is best appreciated from the exterior, where the contrast between the white skirt and the dark tiled roof reads most clearly.
A short walk leads to the Hiro embankment, the great earthen seawall that Hamaguchi Goryō financed and built after the 1854 disaster to protect the village from future waves. Nearby, the Inamura no Hi Museum sets out the full story of the tsunami and the rescue. Hiro Hachiman Shrine, the tower's former home, retains its own designated buildings, and the historic soy-sauce-brewing quarter of Yuasa, a nationally selected preservation district, lies just to the north.
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Q&A
- What makes this bell tower architecturally unusual?
- Its hipped roof. Bell towers of the Muromachi period almost always carry a hip-and-gable roof, so the plain four-sided roof here has few surviving counterparts among designated examples.
- Has the tower always stood at Hōzō-ji?
- No. Temple tradition holds it began at Shōraku-ji in Yuasa, moved to Hiro Hachiman Shrine in 1695, and came to Hōzō-ji during the Meiji-era separation of Shinto and Buddhism.
- How old is the building?
- No founding record survives. Based on its joinery and bracketing, scholars judge it to date no later than the middle Muromachi period, around 1393 to 1466.
- What is the connection to "Inamura no Hi"?
- The bell once hung in this tower at Hiro Hachiman Shrine and is said to have been rung to warn villagers during the 1854 tsunami, the same disaster in which Hamaguchi Goryō lit burning rice sheaves to guide people to safety.
- Can visitors go inside?
- The tower is viewed from the precinct exterior. There is no interior visit, but the structure and its skirted lower story are clearly seen from the temple grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Hōzō-ji Shōrō (Bell Tower of Hōzō-ji) |
|---|---|
| Location | Kaminakano, Hirogawa-chō, Arida-gun, Wakayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (designated 26 February 1947) |
| Count | 1 building |
| Date | Middle Muromachi period (c. 1393–1466) |
| Structure | Three bays by two bays, with hakamagoshi skirt, hipped roof, formal tile roofing |
| Owner | Hōzō-ji |
| Access | JR Kisei Main Line; Hirokawabeach or Yuasa Station |
References
- National Designated Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Hōzō-ji Shōrō
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/2905
- Hirogawa Town Board of Education — Hōzō-ji (Bell Tower), Important Cultural Property
- https://www.town.hirogawa.wakayama.jp/kyouiku/rekishibunka/houzouji.html
- Japan Heritage "Hyakusei no Ando" — Hōzō-ji
- https://hyakusei-no-ando.com/heritage/法蔵寺/
Last verified: 2026.06.05