To-ji Hatsu-Kobo (First Kobo Market of the Year)

Before you go

On the 21st of every month, nearly 1,000 stalls fill the grounds of Tō-ji. The market on 21 January is the first of the year, Hatsu-Kōbō, and it grew out of a memorial rite.

The rite is the Mieku, held in the Mieidō hall in thanksgiving to Kōbō Daishi Kūkai. It began in 910 at the Kanjō-in; in 1233 Kōshō, son of the sculptor Unkei, carved a statue of Kūkai, and from 1240 the rite was held in the Mieidō as well. It is still held on the 21st of every month, and on 21 April — the anniversary of Kūkai's death, 21 March by the old calendar — the grand Shō-Mieku is held. As worshippers gathered, tea stalls appeared offering a cup for a single coin, and then stalls selling dumplings, firewood, charcoal, pots and pans. Over 700 years, that became the market.

Tō-ji itself is older than the market. When Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyō in 794, only two state temples were permitted: Tō-ji and Sai-ji. Sai-ji and the Rajōmon gate are gone; Tō-ji is the only surviving structure of the Heian capital. Tō-ji was founded in 796, two years after the move. In the winter 29 years after the move, Emperor Saga entrusted the temple to Kūkai, newly returned from studying esoteric Buddhism in Tang China, and Tō-ji became the head temple of Shingon Buddhism. The temple you walk through today still follows the layout Kūkai planned.

The five-story pagoda at the south of the grounds stands about 55 metres tall; the present tower was rebuilt in 1644, and the temple says it is the tallest five-story pagoda in Japan.

Getting there

To-ji is at 1 Kujo-cho, Minami-ku, Kyoto. It is about a 15-minute walk from Kyoto Station's Hachijo exit, heading for the five-storey pagoda; buses also run from the Hachijo exit and Hankyu Kawaramachi, per the FAQ. The temple car park cannot be used on market days.