Minobusan Kuonji

The mountain where Nichiren spent nine years

Minobusan Kuonji (身延山久遠寺, Minobusan Kuon-ji) is the head temple of the Nichiren school of Buddhism in Minobu, Minobu Town, Yamanashi Prefecture, founded when the monk Nichiren came to Mount Minobu in 1274, and 27 of its buildings, among them the Soshido founder's hall, the Sanmon gate and the mausoleum tower over Nichiren's grave, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2018 and 2020. Its full name is Minobusan Myohokkein Kuonji, and many people simply call it Minobusan.

According to the temple, Nichiren arrived on 17 May 1274 at the invitation of Nanbu (Hakii) Sanenaga, the steward who held these mountains. From 17 June he lived in a thatched hermitage in Nishidani, the valley at the foot of Mount Takatori, and for the next nine years he recited the Lotus Sutra and trained his disciples there. In 1281 he replaced the hut with proper temple buildings and named the place Kuonji himself.

In 1282 Nichiren left the mountain to rest and to visit his parents' graves, and died on the way at Ikegami, in what is now Ota Ward in Tokyo. He had asked to be buried in the valley at Minobu, and his remains were brought back. Kuonji has guarded his grave ever since, which is why the Nichiren school regards it as its spiritual home.

The temple passed to Niko, one of Nichiren's six senior disciples, and his line. In 1475 the eleventh abbot, Nitcho, moved the main buildings out of the cramped, damp Nishidani valley to the present site. Patronage from the Takeda clan and later the Tokugawa shoguns followed, and in 1706 Kuonji became a temple for prayers on behalf of the imperial court.

Four areas, from the outer gate to the summit

The temple describes its grounds inside the outer gate as covering about three million tsubo, the traditional unit of area. The 27 registered buildings fall into four areas across that mountain estate.

The first lies just inside the Somon, the outer gate below the temple town. The Somon Teahouse lines the approach road, and the Hocchinkaku hall stands on stone steps at right angles to it. Built in 1739, the Hocchinkaku is the oldest of the 27.

The second is the main temple area, entered through the Sanmon gate. Beyond the gate a flight of 287 stone steps, the Bodaitei, climbs straight up to the main hall; the temple says it is divided into 7 flights for the 7 characters of the chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. On the terrace at the top stand the Soshido, the Goshinkotsudo relic hall and its worship hall, and the Butsuden and Nohaido halls. To the east are the Great Guest Hall, the Hokido and the Former and New Shoin; to the south the Great Bell Tower and the Kanromon gate; behind the main area, the Honjido. The Taishido sits north-west of the Sanmon, and the Enshido on the slope above the main buildings.

The third is Nishidani, the valley of Nichiren's hermitage. At his grave stand the mausoleum tower, its worship hall and a water pavilion, with the Joshoden at the entrance and the Sanmaido, Suigyodo and Zuimon on a rise nearby. The fourth is the summit of Mount Minobu, 1,153 metres high, where the Okunoin Shishinkaku, the inner sanctuary where Nichiren is said to have prayed for his distant parents, keeps a Niomon gate and a bell house.

The 27 registered buildings

Nineteen buildings were placed on the national register on 2018/05/10 and eight more on 2020/08/17. The first group comprises the Soshido and Gokusho, the Goshinkotsudo worship hall, the Butsuden and Nohaido, the Great Guest Hall, the Hokido, the Former Shoin, the New Shoin, the Great Bell Tower, the Jishoro time bell tower, the Kanromon gate and gatekeeper's lodge, the Taishido, the Sanmon, the Honjido, the mausoleum tower, the Joshoden, the Sanmaido, the Suigyodo, the Zuimon and the Shishinkaku Niomon. The second adds the Goshinkotsudo itself, the incense burner pavilion before the Soshido, the mausoleum worship hall and water pavilion, the Enshido, the Okunoin bell house, the Hocchinkaku and the Somon Teahouse.

Their dates span about 220 years, from the Hocchinkaku of 1739 to the Joshoden of 1958. Besides the Hocchinkaku, the Edo-period buildings are the Sanmaido of 1823, the Honjido of 1852 and the Kanromon of 1868; everything else dates from Meiji onwards. The temple records that a great fire in 1875 destroyed its five-storied pagoda, and the large halls of the early Meiji years followed, among them the Soshido of 1881 and the Great Guest Hall of 1886. Building went on well into the Showa era, with the Butsuden and Nohaido in 1931 and the mausoleum tower and its worship hall in 1942.

The present main hall, rebuilt in 1985, and the five-storied pagoda, rebuilt in 2009, are not on the register. The Minobusan Treasure Museum, in the basement of the main hall, shows works from the temple's Minobu Bunko collection.

Hours and house rules

There is no charge to enter the grounds. The temple gives its visiting and reception hours as 5:00 a.m. to 4:20 p.m., with the main reception in the Hoonkaku building. Services are held at 5:30 a.m. in the main hall and at noon and 3:00 p.m. in the Butsuden, and anyone may attend. The okaicho, in which the doors of the great shrine in the Soshido are opened to show the image of Nichiren, can be requested on the spot without booking; it takes about 15 minutes and costs 2,000 yen per person.

Visitors may generally walk into the halls, though some areas are closed at certain times. Photography inside the buildings is not allowed as a rule, but you can photograph freely outdoors. The Treasure Museum opens 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (last entry 3:30 p.m.), closes on Thursdays, and charges 500 yen for adults and 200 yen for school-age children.

The weeping cherry trees for which Kuonji is famous usually start to bloom in mid-March, according to the temple. On 13 October, the anniversary of Nichiren's death, the temple holds its Oeshiki memorial, and the procession of lantern-decked floats on the evening of the 12th is well known.

Getting there

The nearest station is Minobu on the JR Minobu Line. Buses for Minobusan leave from the station and take about 12 minutes to the terminus in the temple town, from where the shopping street leads to the Sanmon. From the gate you can climb the Bodaitei steps or take the gentler Otokozaka and Onnazaka slopes around them. By car, the Minobusan interchange on the Chubu Odan Expressway is about 15 minutes away; the car park below the Kanromon is free, and the Seishin car park in Nishidani charges a fee. Cars cannot drive through the temple grounds.

From the Seishin car park an inclined lift climbs to the side of the main hall, so the main temple area can be reached without stairs. To reach Nichiren's grave, take the lift down from the main hall and walk the Nishidani approach, about 10 to 15 minutes.

For the Okunoin Shishinkaku, the Minobusan Ropeway runs from Kuonji station behind the main hall to Okunoin station near the summit in about 7 minutes; on foot the trail takes about 2 hours. Since the fare revision of 1 April 2026 an adult return ticket costs 1,700 yen, and cars run from 9:00 a.m., with the last car up at 4:00 p.m.; hours vary by season. The temple's address is 3567 Minobu, Minobu Town, and its telephone number is 0556-62-1011.