Kōtoku-ji

A temple from 1373 with a thatched gate: two monumental trees among the tallest in Tokyo.

The entrance gate has a thatched roof from the Edo period, and the path up to it is narrow and steep: more than one visitor, writing online, has wondered whether they had taken the wrong road. Inside the grounds grow two monumental trees of Tokyo Prefecture, a kaya of 24.5 metres and a tarayo of 19.1: in autumn, two large ginkgos stand beside them with a carpet of yellow leaves.

A Rinzai Zen temple founded in 1373 and rebuilt in the sixteenth century under Hōjō Ujiyasu, with an entrance gate with an Edo-period thatched roof, designated a cultural property of the city of Akiruno. In the grounds grow two ginkgo trees, as well as a kaya 24.5 metres tall and a tarayo 19.1 metres tall, the latter two designated natural monuments of Tokyo Prefecture.

ℹ️ No official website for the temple found, and no page with opening hours or tickets: several independent visitors (2012, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2026) describe free entry to the grounds, with no ticket and no hours posted; this must be reconfirmed by phone before it is taken as certain. The municipality of Akiruno gives the access: 30 minutes on foot from Musashi-Itsukaichi Station, or a bus bound for ‘払沢の滝入口’, ‘藤倉’, ‘数馬’ or ‘上養沢’, getting off at the ‘上町’ bus stop, then 15 minutes on foot. The last stretch of road to the temple is narrow and uphill, reported as difficult by several independent visitors, especially on autumn-foliage weekends.

🚉 Musashi-Itsukaichi · 26 min walk

Sources: city.akiruno.tokyo.jp

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