Yasaka Pagoda (Hōkan-ji), Kyoto

The five-tiered pagoda of Hōkan-ji rises above the roofs of an old residential quarter, its sloping eaves stacked one over another, and for many people it is the image of old Kyoto. Known simply as Yasaka-no-tō, the Yasaka Pagoda, it stands in the Higashiyama district on the eastern side of the city, between the great hillside temple of Kiyomizu-dera and the Yasaka Shrine, and it is the last surviving building of a temple that once filled this slope. At about 46 metres it is among the tallest wooden five-storey pagodas in Japan.

Temple tradition credits the foundation to Prince Shōtoku, who is said to have raised a five-storey pagoda here after a divine instruction in a dream, and to have enshrined relics of the Buddha in it. The more sober story told by archaeology still makes it very old: excavations in 2009 confirmed a 7th-century origin, probably in the reign of Emperor Tenmu, long before Kyoto became the capital. Historians link the temple to the Yasaka clan, descendants of immigrants from the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo who settled in the area. The foundation stone of the pagoda still dates from that first building.

What stands now is a medieval rebuilding. The pagoda burned in 1179 during a clash between the monks of Kiyomizu and those of the Gion shrine, and was restored in 1191 with the backing of the warlord Minamoto no Yoritomo; lightning brought it down again in 1291, and after a fire in 1436 the shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori paid for the present structure, completed in 1440. It is an Important Cultural Property. Look up at the eaves and you may notice a quiet peculiarity: only the fifth, topmost level carries a railing. Another local legend tells of the monk Jōzō, who is said to have straightened the pagoda through the force of his prayers when it began to lean. Since the 13th century the temple has belonged to the Kennin-ji branch of Rinzai Zen.

Unlike most Japanese pagodas, this one can sometimes be entered: the ground floor holds five Buddha images headed by Dainichi Nyorai, the cosmic Buddha, together with fading old paintings. The small precinct also keeps a memorial to the 12th-century warrior Kiso Yoshinaka. The pagoda is at its most beautiful early in the morning, before the lanes towards Kiyomizu fill up, or at dusk when its silhouette darkens against the sky.

Getting there

The pagoda stands at 388 Yasaka Kami-machi in Higashiyama-ku, within walking distance of Kiyomizu-dera and the Gion district, a little over 3 km from central Kyoto. The nearest railway station is Kiyomizu-Gojō on the Keihan Main Line, about 25 minutes on foot. The closest airport is Osaka International Airport (Itami, ITM), about 39 km away.