Rurikō-ji Five-storey Pagoda

photo by 663highland · CC BY 2.5

photo by Maria-Yamaguchi · CC BY-SA 4.0

31.2 metres tall, in memory of a brother killed in battle in 1399: a National Treasure.

The twenty-sixth head of the Ōuchi clan, Ōuchi Morimi, had the pagoda built around 1442 in memory of his brother Ōuchi Yoshihiro, who died in 1399 in the Ōei War. At 31.2 metres tall and covered by a cypress-bark roof (檜皮葺), it combines the Japanese wayō style with details imported from China, including a circular platform (須弥壇) that no other pagoda in Japan has. It is often cited among the three most beautiful five-storey pagodas in the country, along with that of Daigo-ji in Kyoto.

The pagoda is what remains of the Kōryū-ji temple founded by the Ōuchi clan, later moved and refounded as Rurikō-ji in the seventeenth century. It is a National Treasure (国宝) and stands in Kōzan Park, in the heart of Yamaguchi city, the old capital of the Ōuchi clan, which in the sixteenth century rivalled Kyoto in wealth and culture, so much so that it was called ‘the Kyoto of the West’.

ℹ️ Free-entry park, always accessible; the pagoda is lit up from sunset until 22:00 all year round. Address: 山口県山口市香山町7-1.

🚉 Kami-Yamaguchi · 21 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org

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