One Hall, National Treasure since 1953
Kosanji Temple Buddha Hall (功山寺仏殿, Kozanji Butsuden) is a late Kamakura structure at Chofu Kawabata-cho, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, made an Important Cultural Property on 15 April 1903 and designated a National Treasure on 14 November 1953. The quantity is one building and the owner the temple.
The hall is three bays by three, single-storeyed with a skirt roof, hip-and-gable, roofed in cypress bark. The date field gives 1320.
14 November 1953 is the day of the red-laced and white-laced armours, the scroll at Zentsuji and the Toshodaiji sutra repository.
The Building Is Seven Years Older Than the Temple
The founding of the temple and the date of the hall run the wrong way round.
The Agency records that the temple was founded in 1327 by the priest Koan Genjaku and was at first called by another name.
Of the hall: an ink inscription on the upper part of a pillar in the inner sanctuary reads that its pillars were raised on the fifth day of the fourth month of 1320.
The temple opened in 1327 and the hall's pillars went up in 1320. The building comes seven years earlier.
At the Toshodaiji sutra repository, a storehouse standing before the temple's founding was converted for it: a finished building taken into a temple afterwards.
Here a building raised as a Buddha hall stands earlier than the founding of the temple that holds it. The temple's name changed as well.
The Record Weighs Another View and Hedges Its Own
On the date, the record does not settle on one answer outright.
There is a view, it says, that on stylistic grounds the hall may be somewhat later than this, but it seems reasonable to take the inscription as giving the date of building.
Another view is acknowledged, and then the inscription is preferred: it seems reasonable, the record says.
Seems reasonable, in those words. Not a flat assertion.
At the Sofukuji first gate, the Agency and the city gave years fifty-one apart. At the Seihakuji Buddha hall, the date field and the commentary differed by eighty-two. Those are disagreements set side by side.
Here the record states two views, says which it takes, and hedges as it does so. The reasoning is written out.
A Small Difference in Width Read as a Sign of Things to Come
A slight variation in dimension carries a large meaning.
A three-bay square with a skirt roof, the record says, it has the proper form of a Zen Buddha hall.
It continues: the widening of the skirt roof at the rear, slight though it is, should be seen as a first appearance of the loosening of structure that came in the Muromachi period.
The rear of the skirt roof is a little wider, and no more. That is taken for the first step of a later change.
At the Kongobuji Fudo hall, the unequal side bays were simply described. That account stops at the form.
Here a small difference is tied to the movement of an age. Should be seen as, the record says: again it stops short of asserting.
Visiting
The hall stands at Chofu Kawabata-cho, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, owned by the temple. It stands in the precinct and its exterior can be seen on a visit.
The interior is described: the central bay is raised highest with a flat panelled ceiling, the surrounding parts show the underside of the roof, and rafter tails carry the main frame in the manner particular to Zen halls.
Outside, the skirt roof is joined to the body by curved beams and forms a low exposed ceiling.
The assessment closes: it is of high value as a typical example of a Zen Buddha hall. A typical example, in those words. At the Shofukuji Jizo hall, resemblance served as evidence of a standard.
The commentary ends by naming its source, a dictionary of National Treasures published in 2019, the fourth such case here. Access to the interior follows the temple's own arrangements. Check before travelling.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Yamaguchi
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Kosanji Temple Buddha Hall
- [ Kintaikyo Bridge & Hagi Castle Town Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the hall designated?
- It became an Important Cultural Property on 15 April 1903 and a National Treasure on 14 November 1953. The quantity is one building, at Shimonoseki City, owned by the temple.
- Which is older, the temple or the hall?
- The hall. The Agency gives the temple's founding as 1327 and the hall's inscription as recording the raising of its pillars in 1320, seven years earlier.
- Is there another view of the date?
- Yes. The Agency records a view that on stylistic grounds the hall may be somewhat later, but adds that it seems reasonable to take the inscription as giving the date of building.
- What is distinctive about it?
- The Agency writes that the slight widening of the skirt roof at the rear should be seen as a first appearance of the loosening of structure that came in the Muromachi period.
- What is valued in it?
- The Agency calls it of high value as a typical example of a Zen Buddha hall, and the commentary names a dictionary of National Treasures as its source.
Basic Information
| Name | Kosanji Temple Buddha Hall (功山寺仏殿, Kozanji Butsuden); the temple was at first called by another name |
|---|---|
| Location | Chofu Kawabata-cho, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture |
| Designation | National Treasure (structure, religious architecture) |
| Year Designated | 1903 (15 April), Important Cultural Property; 1953 (14 November), National Treasure |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 3 bays by 3, single-storeyed with a skirt roof, hip-and-gable, roofed in cypress bark. The date field gives 1320, from an ink inscription on a pillar in the inner sanctuary. The temple's founding is given as 1327, so the building is 7 years earlier. The skirt roof is slightly wider at the rear. The period is the late Kamakura |
| Owner | Kozanji |
| Public Access | Standing in the precinct; the exterior can be seen on a visit, while the interior follows the temple's own arrangements |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: the Kozanji Buddha hall
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/157735
- Cultural Heritage Online: the Kozanji outer gate
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/195299
- Shimonoseki City: cultural properties
- https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.06