Five-storied pagoda at Daigo-ji temple, Kyoto

People love to say “the three most beautiful, the three most famous, etc.” Is that universal? There are many special things referred to as a trio in Japan. One is the three most reputed Daiginjo refined sake brewing places in the country: Fushimi in Kyoto and Nada in Hyogo are undefeatable, but the third one varies. A number of places claim “We’re the third !” One of them is Saijo, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. Its cold climate in winter with the difference in temperature between the highest and lowest of the day properly large, pure ground water, and rice cultivated nearby combined makes Saijo the great place for sake making.

Well so much about Saijo this time. Articles especially for Saijo will be posted some day.

This time, I’m showing one of the most beautiful wooden five-storied pagodas in Japan: the one at Daigo-ji.

The English word for go-ju-no-toe is five-storied pagoda, but simply put, these towers are one-storied with a vast attic. Almost all of them are made this way. Even the first floor is usually off-limits. Above the ceiling of the first floor, there are quite a number of wooden pieces combined and joined to support the long-extending ecstatic eaves, virtually no space to make it floored.

Unlike the pagodas in China, the wooden five-storied pagodas in Japan are to be worshipped from outside. Originally, even the temple monks were not allowed to enter the pagoda. The pagoda itself might have been regarded very sacred in Japan as a symbol of the Buddha, whereas in China, in many cases, people are allowed to go up and worship the Buddhist statues enshrined on each floor until they come to the top floor. The Chinese towers are multi-floored, mostly made of bricks, welcome people in and are said to have been served as watch towers or observation platforms as well.

Korea does have a wooden five-storied pagoda of traditional make but most extant are made of stone.

In the center of the go-ju-no-toe stands the Shin-bashira or Heart Pillar, which only supports the spire on the roof and stands independently from the rest of the pillars, beams, fixtures, etc. Enough has to be written about this special pillar and the spire called so-rin. To make this article properly short, let me write another article about the shin-bashira and so-rin later on.

Today, as a starter, let me show you one of the representative five-storied pagodas in Japan. The other two which are included in the best three are: one at Horyu-ji in Nara and the other at Ruriko-ji in Yamaguchi. I’ll show them to you soon.

So let’s start with the one at Daigo-ji.

Daigo-ji is located here.