Hōtokuji — the temple with the mirror floor

The floor reflects the maples like a mirror: a rare effect, three windows a year.

The main hall has a lacquered floor that reflects the garden like a pool of water: the temple calls it 床もみじ, ‘the maple on the floor’, an effect that is rare among Japanese temples. It can only be seen during the special opening windows (in 2026 from 18 April to 17 May, from 27 June to 23 September and from 17 October to 30 November), when the ticket costs more than during the rest of the year. Summer also brings about three thousand wind chimes hung in the garden for the 風鈴まつり.

宝徳寺 is a Sōtō Zen temple in the hills north of Kiryū. Its recent fame comes from the lacquered floor of the main hall, which in winter is just a floor like any other and in three windows of the year (spring, summer, autumn) reflects the maples of the outer garden, an effect the temple itself describes as rare in Japan. In the same summer months the garden fills with about three thousand coloured wind chimes, hung for the 風鈴まつり (chime festival). The temple's stamps (御朱印) change every month, and this draws regular collectors as well as passing visitors.

ℹ️ Hours 9:00–16:00. Admission in the normal period: 500 yen adults, 300 yen high school students, free for junior high and under (source: gunma-kanko.jp). ⚠️ During the 床もみじ windows the ticket costs more: some sources give 300 yen in summer, 800 yen in October and 1,200 yen in November–December; check the amounts on the official site. Car park 300 yen, about 60 spaces. From Kiryū Station, about 20 minutes by taxi; no direct bus routes appear in the information available.

Sources: gunma-kanko.jp · houtokuji.jp

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