An Inscription of 1442, National Treasure since 1952
The Rurikoji Five-Storied Pagoda (瑠璃光寺五重塔, Rurikoji Gojunoto) is a mid-Muromachi pagoda at Kozan-cho, Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, designated a National Treasure in 1952, on 22 November. In 1903, on 15 April, it had been listed as a specially protected structure under the old preservation law. It belongs to Rurikoji.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs records how it came to be built. It is said that after the death of Ouchi Yoshihiro, the Muromachi military governor who held Yamaguchi as his base, his younger brother Morimi raised it to pray for his brother's soul. Yoshihiro fell in the Oei rebellion of 1399, and Morimi himself died in fighting in Kyushu in 1431. The pagoda was completed after both were dead.
The date came from an inscription. During dismantling and repair, an ink inscription reading 1442 was found on a bracket block, and the style of the work agrees with a building of about that time.
Accounts of the year of that repair differ. The Agency gives 1915; Yamaguchi Prefecture gives 1916. This article does not choose between them and notes only that the accounts differ.
A Circular Altar Platform, Found in No Other Pagoda
What the Agency presses hardest is the interior of the first tier.
The central pillar runs up through the first tier, and a circular altar platform is set so as to conceal it, with a ceiling above. That circular platform, the Agency writes, occurs in no other pagoda, and even counting Buddhist halls it is exceedingly rare and distinctive.
An altar platform holds the principal image and is ordinarily built square. To say that a circular one appears in no other pagoda states the singularity of this building plainly. Its role in hiding the central pillar is bound up with its shape.
Yamaguchi Prefecture treats the circular platform as an element of the Zen style. The construction is otherwise in the native manner, with the Zen style appearing only in the inverted-lotus posts of the second-tier railing and in this platform. Two points of Zen style within a native-manner pagoda.
Slender and Taut
The Agency describes the exterior: the cypress bark roofs project comparatively far, their pitch is gentle, the eaves turn up lightly, and no verandas or railings are set above the third tier, so that the whole reads as slender and taut.
Omitting verandas and railings above the third tier is what makes the upper part read thin, since such features project beyond the body of the building. Yamaguchi City adds that the bay intervals narrow with each tier, drawing the body in.
The first tier, by contrast, is tall and its columns thick, and the second tier carries a veranda and railing, so the lower part reads as stable. Thick below and slender above: that contrast shapes the whole.
The height is 31.2 metres to the tip of the finial, and the plan is three bays square at 5.11 metres. The roofs are cypress bark; Yamaguchi City notes that apart from Rurikoji, five-storied pagodas roofed in cypress bark are found only at Muroji, Hasedera and Itsukushima Shrine.
A Survival from Kojakuji
The pagoda was not built for the temple that now surrounds it.
Kojakuji, founded here by Ouchi Yoshihiro, once stood on this ground, and the pagoda belonged to it. After Sekigahara, Mori Terumoto, reduced to the two provinces of Suo and Nagato, moved Kojakuji to Hagi in 1604, and in 1690 Rurikoji was transferred here from Niho. That is the present temple.
The pagoda alone stayed where it was while the temple around it was exchanged. The pagoda carries the temple's name because the temple arrived later. Yamaguchi Prefecture's phrase, that the pagoda too is a survival from Kojakuji, refers to this.
Yamaguchi City records that it is the tenth oldest of the five-storied pagodas surviving in Japan and is counted, with those of Horyuji in Nara and Daigoji in Kyoto, among the three finest pagodas of Japan. That grouping is a popular name, not an official designation.
Visiting
The pagoda stands in the precinct of Rurikoji, laid out as Kozan Park. There is no charge.
A complete rethatching of the cypress bark roofs, the first in about seventy years, has been completed, and the hoarding has come down, so the whole building can be seen.
It is floodlit from sunset until 10:00 p.m. The Rurikoji museum in the precinct displays a model showing the frame of the pagoda and the oldest surviving Japanese copy of Dogen's Shobogenzo. Seeing the model first makes the relation between the central pillar and the circular platform clear.
The Kozan cemetery in the precinct is designated a Historic Site as part of the tombs of the Mori lords of the Hagi domain, a designation separate from the pagoda. From Yamaguchi Station on the JR Yamaguchi Line the bus takes about seven minutes to the Kencho-mae stop, then about five minutes on foot.
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Q&A
- When was the Rurikoji pagoda built and designated?
- An ink inscription reading 1442 was found on a bracket block during dismantling and repair, and the building dates from about then. It was listed as a specially protected structure on 15 April 1903 and designated a National Treasure in 1952, on 22 November. It is said to have been raised by Ouchi Morimi for his brother Yoshihiro.
- What is the circular altar platform?
- A round platform set in the first tier so as to conceal the central pillar. Altar platforms are ordinarily square, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs records that a circular one occurs in no other pagoda and is exceedingly rare even counting Buddhist halls. It is treated as an element of the Zen style.
- What marks the appearance of the pagoda?
- The Agency notes cypress bark roofs projecting comparatively far with a gentle pitch and lightly upturned eaves, and no verandas or railings above the third tier, so the whole reads as slender and taut. It stands 31.2 metres to the tip of the finial, three bays square at 5.11 metres.
- Why did the Ouchi build a pagoda at Rurikoji?
- They did not. Kojakuji, founded by Ouchi Yoshihiro, stood here and the pagoda belonged to it. Mori Terumoto moved Kojakuji to Hagi in 1604, and Rurikoji was transferred here from Niho in 1690. The pagoda alone stayed while the temple around it was exchanged.
- Can the pagoda be visited?
- Yes, in the precinct of Rurikoji, laid out as Kozan Park, at no charge. The first complete rethatching of the roofs in about seventy years is finished and the hoarding removed. It is floodlit from sunset until 10:00 p.m. The precinct museum shows a model of the pagoda's frame.
Basic Information
| Name | Rurikoji Five-Storied Pagoda (瑠璃光寺五重塔, Rurikoji Gojunoto) |
|---|---|
| Location | 7-1 Kozan-cho, Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture |
| Designation | National Treasure (structure); the Kozan cemetery in the precinct is part of the Historic Site tombs of the Mori lords of the Hagi domain |
| Year Designated | 1903 (15 April), specially protected structure; 1952 (22 November), National Treasure |
| Quantity | 1 pagoda |
| Dimensions | Height 31.2 m to the tip of the finial; plan 3 bays, 5.11 m to a side. Cypress bark roofs, deep projection, gentle pitch. No verandas or railings above tier 3. Central pillar and circular altar platform in the first tier. About 1442 |
| Owner | Rurikoji |
| Public Access | Precinct laid out as Kozan Park, no charge. Floodlit from sunset to 10:00 p.m. Rethatching of the roofs completed |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: Rurikoji Five-Storied Pagoda
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/195860
- Yamaguchi Prefecture, cultural properties: the Rurikoji pagoda
- https://bunkazai.pref.yamaguchi.lg.jp/sp/bunkazai/summary.asp?mid=20001
- Yamaguchi City tourism: the Rurikoji pagoda
- https://yamaguchi-city.jp/details/aa_ruri_tou.html
- Yamaguchi Prefecture tourism: the Rurikoji pagoda
- https://yamaguchi-tourism.jp/spot/detail_15401.html
Last verified: 2026.09.03