Jojakko-ji Temple: The Serene Pagoda of Ogura Mountain

Why is it significant?

Pass beneath the rustic thatched Niomon gate of Jojakko-ji Temple and begin climbing the weathered stone stairway carpeted with over two hundred varieties of velvety green moss.

Key Facts

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Pass beneath the rustic thatched Niomon gate of Jojakko-ji Temple and begin climbing the weathered stone stairway carpeted with over two hundred varieties of velvety green moss. Founded in fifteen ninety-six by the monk Nisshin of the Nichiren Buddhist sect, this mountainside hermitage took its evocative name from the Buddhist concept of Jojakkodo, the celestial paradise of serene and tranquil light where enlightened souls dwell. The thatched roof of the gate, salvaged from an older temple hall in Kyoto, harmonizes perfectly with the dense canopy of Japanese maples that creates a cool green arbor overhead in summer and a brilliant canopy of scarlet in late autumn. The mountain path ascends gently through terraced groves where stone lanterns nestle among ancient root systems, offering quiet alcoves for meditation.

The hillside on which Jojakko-ji rests was historically revered by court aristocrats as Mount Ogura. Here, in the late Heian period, the great poet and courtier Fujiwara no Teika maintained his mountain villa, Shigure-tei, where he carefully selected the one hundred poems by one hundred different poets that comprise the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, Japan's most famous classical poetry collection.

Midway up the mountain slope stands the temple's architectural treasure: a graceful twelve-meter-tall Tahoto, or two-story pagoda, erected in sixteen twenty. Built with a round upper story enclosed beneath a square copper-tiled roof, it is designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan and stands as a rare surviving example of early Edo period multi-story Buddhist carpentry in western Kyoto. The pagoda's weathered wooden brackets and curved eaves represent the finest carpentry traditions of the era.

Pause at the wooden overlook beside the pagoda: looking eastward over the tree canopy, you can trace the grid of Kyoto's ancient streets stretching into the hazy distance, with the eastern peaks of Higashiyama framing the horizon.

Follow the narrow stone path northward along the hillside to reach the grand maple-lined approach of Nison-in Temple.