The National Treasure Buildings of Nishi Hongan-ji

Three from Momoyama and four from Edo

The national designation name is "Hongan-ji," and all of its National Treasure buildings stand in the same grounds. Three are from the Momoyama period, three from the early Edo period, and one from the late Edo period. The Kuroshoin and Denrō are two structures counted as one item, so there are eight structures in all.

Five of them became National Treasures in the 1950s, and the Goeidō and Amidadō were added in 2014. Among the 44 National Treasure buildings in the city, Tō-ji (Kyōōgokoku-ji) and Daigo-ji have four each, so Hongan-ji's seven is the largest number at any one site.

The 1591 move and the east–west split

Hongan-ji moved to its present site in 1591 (Tenshō 19) on land donated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1602, Kyōnyo was granted land at Karasuma Rokujō by Tokugawa Ieyasu and moved east, splitting the temple into east and west; Kyoto people have called them "O-Nishi-san" and "O-Higashi-san" ever since. After the buildings burned in 1617, rebuilding followed, and by around 1633 the temple had taken on roughly its present appearance.

The Momoyama-period Hiunkaku, Karamon, and North Noh Stage

The Hiunkaku is a three-story pavilion standing beside the pond of the Tekisuien garden in the southeast corner of the grounds. According to tradition, it was built at the Jurakudai palace, which Hideyoshi constructed around 1586–87, and moved here in the Kan'ei era (1624–44) after the Jurakudai was demolished in 1595, but the details are not known. Its name, "Flying Cloud Pavilion," is traditionally explained by the way its slender pillars and many paper screens make it look like a cloud floating in the sky.

The Karamon is a four-legged gate (shikyakumon) with Chinese-style curved gables (karahafu) front and back, in the same form as the Karamon of Toyokuni Shrine; it is thought to have been moved from in front of the Goeidō to its present site in 1618. It is also called the "Higurashimon" (Sunset Gate), because its carvings and colors are so splendid that one forgets the day is ending; it was restored between June 2018 and September 2021. The North Noh Stage stands in the front garden north of the Shiroshoin; because its gable pendant (gegyo) reportedly bore an inscription dated 1581 (Tenshō 9), it is considered the oldest surviving Noh stage, and the simple construction of its stage and bridgeway (hashigakari) preserves an older form from before the Edo period.

The shoin and the Kuroshoin

The Shoin's date in its designation is 1618 (Genna 4), and it was altered in 1633, when it was moved to the west and turned 90 degrees. The Taimenjo (Kō-no-ma, Stork Room) on the south side is a 162-tatami-mat hall, named for the openwork carving of storks (kō) in the transom above the front of the raised dais. The main room of the Shiroshoin on the north side, the Shimei-no-ma, has 24 mats, and most of its wall paintings are attributed to Watanabe Ryōkei and his school.

The Kuroshoin was built in 1657 (Meireki 3) and is linked to the northeast of the Shiroshoin by the Denrō corridor. In contrast to the public audience halls, it appears to have been an inward-facing building; while keeping the formality of shoin-zukuri it incorporates tea-house (sukiya) techniques, and behind its First Room is a six-mat tea room. The dry landscape garden east of the Shoin, the "Kokei Garden," is a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, and the Tekisuien garden where the Hiunkaku stands is a Place of Scenic Beauty.

The Goeidō and the Amidadō

The Goeidō, whose roof was raised in 1636 (Kan'ei 13), is one of the largest surviving halls of Edo-period architecture: 48 m east–west, 62 m north–south, and 29 m high. A wooden statue of Shinran is enshrined at its center, and the outer hall (gejin) has about 441 tatami mats so that many followers can be seated. A major restoration was completed in 2009.

The Amidadō stands north of the Goeidō, and the two halls are connected by a covered corridor. It was rebuilt in 1760 (Hōreki 10) on a larger scale than the earlier hall of 1618, and measures 42 m east–west, 45 m north–south, and 25 m high. It is among the largest Amida halls of any Shin Buddhist temple in Japan and is considered to have served as a model for Shin main halls across the country. It was restored between August 2017 and March 2022.

A World Heritage component and a temple town lined with Buddhist supply shops

Hongan-ji is one of the 17 components of the World Cultural Heritage Site "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto," inscribed in December 1994, and its grounds are also a national Historic Site. Around it spreads a temple town (jinaimachi) formed when temple officials, merchants, and craftsmen moved here along with the temple's relocation; shops selling Buddhist altars, ritual implements, and priests' robes, as well as lodgings for pilgrims, still line the streets, and the area is designated by Kyoto City as the "Hongan-ji and Tō-ji Neighborhood Landscape Improvement District." The great ginkgo in front of the Goeidō, about 400 years old, is a city-designated Natural Monument; from the legend that it spouted water and protected the Goeidō during the Great Tenmei Fire of 1788, it is also called the "Water-Spouting Ginkgo."

Buildings open to worshippers, and access

Nishi Hongan-ji is at Horikawa-dōri Hanayachō-sagaru, Shimogyō Ward. The gates open at 5:30 and close at 17:00 (as of October 2026). Anyone may visit the grounds free of charge. The National Treasure Goeidō and Amidadō can be entered at any time while the gates are open, and the morning service (jinjō) from 6:00 every day is also free to join. The Hiunkaku and North Noh Stage are normally closed to the public, and the Shoin and Kuroshoin are not buildings you can enter freely either. The exterior of the Karamon can be seen from Kitakōji-dōri.

To get there, it is about 15 minutes on foot from JR Kyoto Station, or take city bus routes 9, 28, or 75 to "Nishi Honganji-mae," or a Keihan Bus to "Nishi Honganji." Parking is in the northern grounds, with the entrance on the Hanayachō-dōri side.

Layout of the National Treasure Buildings in the Grounds of Nishi Hongan-ji (Schematic)