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Myozenji Temple Museum

A Gasshozukuri Buddhist Temple

Myozenji is a well-known temple in Shirakawa-go and has been in existence for over 200 years. The temple consists of a Main Hall, a Kuri, and a bell tower gate. The Kuri is built in the form of Gassho-zukuri style, and the roofs of the main hall and bell tower gate are also covered with thick thatch.

Myozenji 明善寺 is a well-known Buddhist temple in Shirakawa Village 白川郷 (Shirakawa-go), and was founded in the mid-18th century, more than 200 years ago. The Myozenji consists of the Main Hall, the Kuri, and the Bell Tower Gate.

A temple in Shirakawa-go is of course no lack of Gassho-zukuri 合掌造り style elements, and the Kuri is one of the few Gassho-zukuri Temple Architecture in Japan. A Kuri 庫裏 is the kitchen of a Buddhist monastery, where the Ground Stove provide the fire for cooking. The Attic Space on the second to fourth floors was originally used for sericulture, as was the case with the rest of the Gassho-zukuri houses in Shirakawa-go.

Manywhere Trivia:
Myozenji Temple in Shirakawa-go belongs to the Jodo Shinshu school of Buddhism, which is the origin of the Higashi Hongan-ji and Nishi Hongan-ji temples in Kyoto, too.

The main hall of the temple is connected to Kuri by a corridor, making it easy to communicate. The Main Hall is built in a typical Japanese Buddhist temple layout, while its roof is covered with thick thatch to cope with the pressure of snow in the wintertime.