Nanzen-ji Hatto (Dharma Hall) Special Opening

Before you go

In 1291, the retired emperor Kameyama turned his detached palace into a Zen temple — the founding of Nanzen-ji. Kameyama had taken the throne at ten, as the 90th emperor, and after retiring faced the Mongol invasions. In 1289 he took the tonsure, taking the Buddhist name Kongōgen. The founding abbot, Mukan Fumon, died that same December, and the next year Kameyama appointed Kian Soen as the second abbot. The temple buildings took about fifteen years to complete; in 1305, the year they were largely finished, Kameyama died at his Kameyama residence in Saga, aged 57. Before the palace became a temple, strange things were said to happen there; Mukan moved in with his monks and did nothing but sit in meditation, sweep and chant, and the disturbances stopped.

The Hatto, the Dharma Hall, is where formal rites and ceremonies are held, and it is the central building of Nanzen-ji. The first hall was destroyed in the Ōnin and Bunmei wars and rebuilt around 1479; Toyotomi Hideyori funded a major rebuilding in 1606; a fire in 1895 burned it down, and the present hall was rebuilt in 1909.

Inside, the first thing to look at is the altar: the Buddha Shakyamuni in the centre, Mañjuśrī riding a lion on the right and Samantabhadra riding an elephant on the left. The floor is laid entirely with tiles, and the roof rests on great round pillars of keyaki wood. On the ceiling is a coiled dragon, the life's work of the painter Imao Keinen. In 1990, to mark the 700th anniversary of the founder's death, the hall was given a new roof and new floor tiles.

Booking

Admission: ¥500 for high-school students and above; elementary and junior-high pupils free.