Rokkaku-dō Temple

Overview

Chōhō-ji (頂法寺) is a Buddhist temple in the Rokkaku-dori Higashinotoin Nishinido-mae-chō neighbourhood of Nakagyō Ward, Kyoto. It belongs to the Tendai sect, one of the major schools of Japanese Buddhism, and its honzon (本尊, honzon — the principal object of worship) is a statue of Nyōirin Kannon (如意輪観音, nyōirin kannon — a form of the bodhisattva of compassion, "Kannon who grants wishes"). The temple's full name is Shiun-san Chōhō-ji (紫雲山 頂法寺), but it is almost universally known by the name of its main hall: Rokkaku-dō (六角堂), "the Hexagonal Hall."

The temple sits at coordinates 35.0072° N, 135.7603° E, in the flat commercial heart of Kyoto. It is the 18th stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage (西国三十三所, saigoku sanjūsansho), a circuit of 33 temples across western Japan dedicated to Kannon. It also belongs to the Historical Sites of Prince Shōtoku and to the 33 Sacred Sites of Luoyang Kannon.

History

The temple's traditional founding is attributed to Prince Shōtoku (聖徳太子, Shōtoku Taishi), the semi-legendary regent of the early 7th century who is credited with establishing Buddhism in Japan and with founding many temples. The year 801, during the Heian period (794–1185), is given as the temple's start date. That year fell in Enryaku 20 (延暦二十年), the twentieth year of the Enryaku era.

The temple's most famous object is its honzon, a statue of Nyōirin Kannon. It is a hibutsu (秘仏, hibutsu — a "secret Buddha," an image never shown to the public). By tradition the statue is a three-inch gilt-bronze image donated by Taira no Tokuko (平徳子) in 1178. Tokuko was the daughter of the powerful Taira no Kiyomori and the consort of Emperor Takakura; she is remembered in Japanese history as Kenreimon-in, the mother of Emperor Antoku, who drowned at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185. The statue is not a designated cultural property, and because it is never displayed, its appearance rests entirely on tradition.

What Stands There Today

The feature that gives the temple its popular name is its main hall, built with a hexagonal plan. The hall shelters the hibutsu Kannon, which is kept hidden from view. Around the hall the temple preserves a number of features associated with Prince Shōtoku, and it functions as a stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, where pilgrims receive a seal in their pilgrimage books.

The temple stands in Nakagyō Ward, the central ward of Kyoto, on Rokkaku-dori — "Rokkaku Street," named for the temple itself. The surrounding neighbourhood is dense, modern and commercial, so the temple compound reads as a quiet, compact island of old Kyoto inside the modern city grid.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's formal name is 頂法寺.

• Kana reading: ちょうほうじ
• Romaji: Chōhō-ji

Broken down character by character:

• 頂 — read here as ちょう (chō). The character means "summit," "peak," or "top of the head." It is the same character used in 頂上 (ちょうじょう, chōjō — "summit") and in the word for the crown of the head.
• 法 — read here as ほう (hō). It means "law," "method," or "dharma" — in a Buddhist context, the teaching of the Buddha. It appears in countless temple names and in words such as 仏法 (ぶっぽう, buppō — the Buddhist law).
• 寺 — read here as じ (ji). It means "temple." This is the standard suffix for a Buddhist temple's name, as in 清水寺 (きよみずでら, Kiyomizu-dera) or 金閣寺 (きんかくじ, Kinkaku-ji).

So 頂法寺 can be understood as "Temple of the Summit Dharma" — a name whose exact intent is bound up with the temple's legendary origins.

The everyday name is different. 六角堂 is read ろっかくどう (Rokkaku-dō):

• 六 — ろく (roku), "six."
• 角 — かく (kaku), "corner" or "angle." Together, 六角 (ろっかく, rokkaku) means "hexagon."
• 堂 — どう (dō), "hall" or "sanctuary."

Rokkaku-dō therefore means "Hexagonal Hall," a plain description of the building's six-sided shape. The name is a good example of a common pattern in Japanese temple names: the formal name is a learned, Sino-Japanese construction, while the popular name is a simple description of what visitors actually see.

Visiting and Context

Rokkaku-dō is an easy stop for anyone studying Japanese in Kyoto. It sits in Nakagyō Ward, a short walk from the Karasuma and Tōzai subway lines and within reach of the city's central shopping districts, so it can be combined with a day in the centre of town rather than requiring a separate trip to the outskirts.

For readers working through the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, Rokkaku-dō is the 18th of the 33 stops. Pilgrims traditionally collect a red seal (朱印, shuin) at each temple; the practice is a useful context for the vocabulary of pilgrimage, which appears constantly in Japanese religious and travel writing.

The temple's association with Prince Shōtoku places it within a wider network of sites linked to the prince, and its inclusion among the 33 Sacred Sites of Luoyang Kannon connects it to a devotional tradition that reaches back to China. The hexagonal hall, the hidden Kannon, and the temple's position on a street named after it make Rokkaku-dō a compact lesson in how Japanese place names, temple names and religious practice layer on top of one another.