Senbon Shakadō (Daihōon-ji Hondō)

The Hondō: date and form

Senbon Shakadō is the Hondō of Daihōon-ji, a temple of the Chisan branch of Shingon Buddhism at Shichihonmatsu-dōri Imadegawa-agaru in Kamigyō Ward. It is called the "Shakadō" because its principal image is Shaka Nyorai (the historical Buddha), and it is the only old hall surviving at the temple. Ink inscriptions on the ridge beam (munagi) show that the roof was raised in 1227 (Antei 1).

Kyoto City has National Treasure buildings from the Heian period, such as the five-story pagoda of Daigo-ji (952), but all of these are at temples in the hills or on the outskirts; among buildings remaining in the city center (Rakuchū), the Daihōon-ji Hondō is the oldest. It is a representative Buddhist hall in the Japanese (wayō) style of the early Kamakura period.

Inside, it is divided into an inner sanctuary (naijin) for the statues and a worship hall (raidō) for visitors; the plan, with four "heavenly pillars" (shitenbashira) at the corners of the inner sanctuary, derives from the Jōgyōdō and Hokkedō halls of the Tendai school.

A Hondō that escaped the fires of the Ōnin War

Daihōon-ji was founded around 1220 (Jōkyū 2) by the Tendai monk Gikū (1172–1241), based on devotion to Shaka. In 1235 (Katei 1) it became a temple of imperial prayer (goganji).

In the Ōnin-Bunmei War, which began in 1467 (Ōnin 1), the Western Army set up camp around Horikawa Kamidachiuri, and most of the town of Kamigyō burned. Daihōon-ji stands inside that Western Army camp, the later neighborhood of "Nishijin." The temple too lost most of its halls in repeated fires, beginning with the Ōnin War, but the Hondō alone survived. Sword and spear marks from the time of the Ōnin War are said to remain on the pillars of the inner sanctuary.

Repairs in 1669 (Kanbun 9) changed its appearance, including a switch to a tiled roof, but the dismantling repairs of 1951–1955 (Shōwa 26–30) returned each part to its original form, and the roof is once again cypress bark.

The legend of Okame and the "Okame Mound"

A legend about Okame, the wife of the master carpenter (tōryō), is attached to the building of the Hondō. During the construction that began in 1223 (Jōō 2), the master carpenter Nagai Takatsugu mistakenly cut one of the important pillars too short, and on the advice of his wife Okame, he cut all the pillars to the same length and made up the height with bracket complexes (masugumi) on top of them.

Okame worried that her husband's honor would suffer if it became known that the idea had come from a woman, and took her own life the day before the ridge-raising ceremony in 1227; the priest Gikū, honoring her virtue, built a mound in the grounds in her memory. The stone hōkyōin-tō pagoda by the wall on the east side of the grounds is the "Okame Mound"; it has drawn the devotion of carpenters, and the custom of attaching an Okame mask to the ceremonial staff (gohei) at ridge-raising ceremonies is traced to this story. Every February at Setsubun the temple holds the "Okame Fuku Setsubun-e."

The statues in the treasure hall

The six wooden statues of the Six Kannon Bodhisattvas are thought to have been made in 1224 (Jōō 3) by a team of six sculptors led by Higo Jōkei, whose name is recorded in an inscription on the Juntei Kannon. It is the only case in which all six, Shō Kannon, Senju (Thousand-Armed) Kannon, Batō (Horse-Headed) Kannon, Jūichimen (Eleven-Headed) Kannon, Juntei Kannon, and Nyoirin Kannon, survive, with their original halos and pedestals. They became Important Cultural Properties in 1956 (Shōwa 31), and on August 27, 2024 (Reiwa 6), the seven statues, including a standing Jizō Bodhisattva thought to belong to the same set, were designated National Treasures.

The ten wooden standing statues of the Ten Great Disciples are Important Cultural Properties made late in life by Kaikei, who carved the Kongō Rikishi (Niō) guardians of the Great South Gate of Tōdai-ji together with Unkei; they originally stood in the Hondō surrounding the principal image. The principal image, a seated wooden Shaka Nyorai (Important Cultural Property), is the work of Kaikei's pupil Gyōkai and is normally a hidden image. The Six Kannon and the Ten Great Disciples are kept in the Reihōden treasure hall in the grounds. In 2018 the Tokyo National Museum held a special exhibition on Daihōon-ji.

Daikon-daki and relics of the Kitano Kyōōdō

Senbon Shakadō holds daikon-daki, the daikon radish stew, every year on December 7 and 8. To mark the Jōdō-e, the day the Buddha attained enlightenment, daikon inscribed with Sanskrit characters are blessed and simmered with fried tofu, then served to visitors. It runs 10:00–16:00, and a serving costs 1,000 yen (as of October 2026). On both days the hidden principal image is also unveiled.

Daihōon-ji also preserves cultural properties connected with the Kitano Kyōōdō, a huge building that once stood in the grounds of Kitano Tenmangū: the Kitano Kyōōdō complete Buddhist canon of more than 5,000 volumes, and the seated statue of Fu Daishi with two standing attendant boys from 1418 (Ōei 25), all Important Cultural Properties.

Access and visiting

Daihōon-ji is at Mizomae-chō, Itsutsuji-dōri Rokkenchō nishi-iru, Kamigyō Ward (Shichihonmatsu-dōri Imadegawa-agaru). The nearest stop is the "Kamishichiken" city bus stop, about 3 minutes on foot. From JR Kyoto Station take city bus route 50, from JR Nijō Station route 55, and from Imadegawa subway station routes 51 or 203.

The gate opens at 9:00 and closes at 17:00. Entry and worship in the grounds are free, and the exterior of the National Treasure Hondō and the Okame Mound can be seen from the grounds. The interior of the Hondō and the Reihōden charge admission, and you need to enter the Reihōden by 16:00.