The Tahoto (Many-Jeweled Pagoda) 多宝塔

Official explanation

The Many-Jeweled Pagoda (Tahoto) is very different from the Five-Tiered Pagoda that is also on the Ninnaji grounds, although it, too, serves as an important place of worship. While the Five-Tiered Pagoda commemorates the historical Buddha known in Japan as Shaka Nyorai (Shakyamuni Buddha), the Many-Jeweled Pagoda honors one of the Buddhas of the future, Taho Nyorai (Prabhūta-ratna). Five-tiered pagodas often have some historical relics of the Shaka Nyorai, such as bone fragments, interred underneath their base to invest them with the Buddha’s presence. As the Taho Nyorai has yet to appear on this earth, relics are not incorporated into the architecture of pagodas of this type. The building’s design emerges from a description in the Lotus Sutra of Taho Nyorai appearing before the historical Buddha and his followers in the shape of a pagoda. According to the sutra, the Taho Buddha lives in a far-away land called “Treasure Purity,” where he resides in a tower often referred to as the Jeweled Stupa. Taho Nyorai is particularly important to Shingon Buddhism, and accordingly the Many-Jeweled Pagoda is primarily associated with temples of the Shingon school.

Many-Jeweled Pagoda

Read the full explanation

The two-storied pagoda sits midway up Mt. Nyakuōji, at the top of 140 stone steps. It is the highest point in the Eikandō temple complex. From just below its eaves, a panoramic view of northern Kyoto is visible, including Heian Jingū Shrine and two of the mountainside sites where huge ceremonial bonfires (okuribi) are lit during Obon, the annual festival for the dead. Although the pagoda appears to be contain a second floor, it is in fact a “skirt roof” (mokoshi) and is purely ornamental.

The many-jeweled pagoda is described in the Lotus Sutra, the primary scripture for the Tendai school of Buddhism, and many Tendai temples contain pagodas of this style. As described in the Lotus Sutra, a many-jeweled stupa (a precursor to the pagoda) rises up from the ground when Shakyamuni Buddha begins preaching the Lotus Sutra. Many-Treasures Buddha (tahōnyorai), who is described as sitting inside the stupa, finds Shakyamuni Buddha impressive and invites him to sit together. Many-jeweled pagodas can also be found at a number of temples of the Shingon school of Esoteric Buddhism, and they are believed to have been popularized by the school’s founder, Kūkai (774–835). The pagoda at Eikandō was built in 1928. It is topped with a nine-ringed finial (sōrin) whose tip is a sphere representing a wish-granting jewel (hōju).

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Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.