Negoroji Temple Tahoto Pagoda (Daito)

A Great Pagoda Sixty-Seven Years in the Making

The Negoroji Temple Tahoto Pagoda (Daito) (根来寺多宝塔(大塔)) is the largest surviving tahoto pagoda of 1480 to 1547 in Negoro, Iwade City, Wakayama Prefecture, and was designated a National Treasure on November 22, 1952 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a five-bay tahoto pagoda with a roof of full tiles; designation number 00096.

The Agency record also gives an earlier designation date of April 5, 1899, the date of its designation under the former law.

Sixty-Seven Years in the Building

Negoroji, also called Daidenpoin, is said to have been founded on Mount Koya by the monk Kakuban (1095 to 1144) and moved here in 1288; the pagoda is said to have been modelled on the Konpon Daito, the great pagoda of Koyasan (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Many ink inscriptions found when it was dismantled for repair in 1939 show that materials began to be gathered in 1480, the heart pillar was raised in 1496, the roof tiled and the finial set in 1515, and the pagoda completed in 1547, sixty-seven years after work began (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The temple says it escaped the fires of the Tensho era.

Why It Is a National Treasure

The Agency calls it the largest surviving tahoto and the only surviving building that shows the daito form.

Twelve Pillars in a Circle

It is a tahoto, a cylindrical body with a pyramidal roof wrapped in a skirt roof; the skirt is five bays square, the large daito type, giving a grand and stable outline (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Inside, twelve round pillars set in a circle carry the upper storey, an interesting form that reflects the round body of the pagoda (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The details are of the Muromachi period, with Zen-style touches such as projecting tie-beam ends.

What to Look For

Look for the grand outline wrapped in its five-bay skirt roof and the twelve pillars standing in a circle inside (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The temple says it is the only National Treasure great pagoda that visitors can enter to worship.

Visiting

According to the temple, it is open from 9:10 to 16:30 from April to October and from 9:10 to 16:00 from November to March; admission is 500 yen for adults (junior high school age and over) and free for children. In late October each year the Daishi Hall, the Great Pagoda and the Daidenpodo may be closed for ceremonies. Tel. 0736-62-1144. The pagoda, the Daishi Hall and the six Edo-period buildings are introduced together on the Negoroji Temple page.