Erinji Temple Shikyokumon

The Gate Ieyasu Rebuilt in 1606

The Shikyakumon of Erinji (恵林寺四脚門, read either shikyakumon or yotsuashimon) is a temple gate of 1606 at Kentokusan Erinji in the Koyashiki district of Koshu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, designated a protected structure on 28 August 1907 and now registered as an Important Cultural Property. It is counted as one structure, built as a four-legged gate with a gabled roof of cypress bark.

The name describes the framing. A four-legged gate has two main round pillars carrying the ridge, with four subsidiary square posts, two in front and two behind, bracing them. The type is old and is used across Japan for the secondary gates of temples and residences. What sets this one apart is the colour. The timber is painted a strong vermilion, which is why almost nobody at Erinji calls it the Shikyakumon. Everyone says Akamon, the red gate. A plaque above the opening carries the temple's mountain name, Kentokusan, taken from the peak that rises behind the valley.

Designation in 1907 came under the Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law, which makes this one of the earliest architectural designations in Yamanashi Prefecture, ahead of most of the shrine halls that now share its status. It was dismantled and reassembled for repair in 1971.

Why a Gate of 1606 Matters Here

Erinji was founded in 1330, when Nikaidō Sadafuji, also known by his Buddhist name Dōun, gave over his residence and invited the Zen master Musō Soseki to serve as founding abbot. Musō laid out the garden, now a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty, in two tiers: dry rock arrangement above, pond and circuit path below, with Mount Kentoku borrowed as backdrop. In 1564 Takeda Shingen made Erinji his family temple, and in 1576, after the three years of concealed mourning his will had specified, his funeral was conducted here.

The temple's fortunes turned in the spring of 1582. The Takeda house fell at Tenmokuzan in March. On the third day of the fourth month, Oda forces burned Erinji. The abbot Kaisen Jōki died in the fire along with more than a hundred others, and the line he is said to have spoken as the flames took the gate tower has been repeated ever since: still the mind, and the fire itself is cool. The words are borrowed from a Tang-dynasty poem and had long circulated as a Zen saying, but Japan attached them permanently to Kaisen that day.

Oda Nobunaga was killed at Honnōji two months later. Tokugawa Ieyasu took Kai Province and set about restoring the temple, and the four-legged gate belongs to that campaign of rebuilding. This is the point that makes the structure historically valuable rather than merely handsome. Erinji burned again in 1905, taking the main hall and the great kitchen-quarters with it; those buildings were put up afresh at the end of the Meiji era. The gate of 1606 is the sole survivor of the Ieyasu reconstruction still standing on the site.

One caveat on the record. Some local pamphlets and guidebooks claim the red gate escaped the 1582 fire outright. The Agency for Cultural Affairs and the temple's own account both give 1606 and describe the gate as rebuilt, and that reading is followed here.

Walking the Approach

Enter through the Sōmon, the outer gate, and follow the cedar-lined avenue. The red gate appears partway along, and you pass straight through it. This matters practically: the Shikyakumon stands on the free portion of the precinct, so you can see it, photograph it and walk under it at any hour without paying anything. Look up as you go under. The bracket work is plain by the standards of Momoyama temple carpentry, and the restraint is deliberate; the impact is carried by proportion and by that single saturated colour against dark cedar trunks.

Beyond it comes the Sanmon, a prefecturally designated structure raised on the ground where Kaisen and his community died, with his death verse displayed. Then the Kaisandō, a Koshu City designated building, holding images of Musō Soseki, Kaisen Jōki and Masshū Zuikatsu, the priest Ieyasu charged with the restoration. The garden, the nightingale corridor whose floorboards chirp underfoot, and Shingen's grave lie inside the paid area.

Admission and hours: the temple opens 8:30 to 16:30 with no closing days, and entry to the garden and interior is 500 yen for adults and 300 yen for students, paid at the kitchen-quarters entrance. The treasure hall closes on Thursdays from December through March. Shingen's grave is opened on the twelfth of each month, his monthly memorial date. Free parking takes about fifty cars. From JR Enzan Station, take the bus from the south exit bound for Nishizawa Keikoku and get off at Erinji-mae, about fifteen minutes; a taxi covers the 3.7 kilometres for roughly 1,600 yen. By car it is about twenty minutes from the Katsunuma interchange. Prices and timings do shift, so confirm on the temple site before travelling.