Iwate · HiraizumiNo.553★★★Open in map →
Chusonji Konjikido
— The Golden Hall of the Fujiwara lords at Hiraizumi
Hiraizumi's hilltop temple keeps one small hall covered inside and out in gold leaf, now sealed within a modern concrete shelter. Reaching it means a climb up the cedar-lined approach the temple calls Getsuzaka.
- FromIchinoseki Station
- ~30 minJR Tohoku Main Line, then bus
- Get off atHiraizumi Station (JR Tohoku Main Line)
- From there
- Chusonji Konjikido
Where it is
17 more notes in Iwate · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Getsuzaka approachthe sloped main approach up from the road, lined with old cedars
- Higashi-Monomidai lookouta break in the trees over the Kitakami and Koromo rivers and Mount Tabashine
- Hondo main hallthe working centre of the temple, where the daily services are held
- Sankozo treasure hallthe museum holding the Buddhist art that came through from the Fujiwara century
- Konjikidothe gilded hall itself, behind glass inside its concrete shelter
- Konjikido Ooidothe wooden shelter hall that stood over the Konjikido for centuries before it
How to actually get there
- Ichinoseki Station → Hiraizumi Station (JR Tohoku Main Line, about 9 min).
- Hiraizumi Station → Chusonji gate by route bus, by the weekend loop bus, or on foot.
- Climb Getsuzaka past the lookout, the main hall and the treasure hall.
- Finish at the Konjikido and the old shelter hall, then return the same way to Hiraizumi Station.
- JR Tohoku Main Line from Ichinoseki
- Ichinoseki Station →(JR Tohoku Main Line, about 9 min)→ Hiraizumi Station. From there a route bus runs between Ichinoseki, Hiraizumi Station and Chusonji all year round, and a town loop bus called Run Run adds services at weekends and on public holidays. Walking is possible too: the temple gate lies roughly two kilometres northwest of the station.
- Return from Hiraizumi Station
- Come back down Getsuzaka to the gate, then take the bus or walk to Hiraizumi Station and the Tohoku Main Line back to Ichinoseki for the Shinkansen. Services thin out in the evening, so check the posted return times before you start the climb. There are no coin lockers on the temple grounds; the temple points visitors to the lockers at Hiraizumi Station.
About the place
Chusonji stands on a wooded ridge above the Kitakami river, and the way in is a single sloped approach called Getsuzaka, lined with old cedars. The halls are spaced along it: a lookout over the river plain, then the main hall, then the treasure house. The Konjikido sits at the far end of that line. It is one small square hall, gilded inside and out, its altar inlaid with mother-of-pearl cut from night-shell and set with ivory. Beneath that altar lie the bodies of four generations of the Fujiwara who ruled the north from here. What you actually walk into is a modern concrete shelter built around the hall, with the gold behind glass.
How to enjoy it
Gates open at 8:30, and that first hour is the calmest stretch of the day on Getsuzaka, before the coach groups reach the top. Closing moves with the season, 17:00 from early March to early November and 16:30 through the winter, so a late-afternoon start leaves too little for the climb. Give the walk up and back its own time rather than treating the Konjikido as a single stop.
Background & history
The temple dates its founding to 850 and the monk Ennin. It became what it is in 1105, when Fujiwara no Kiyohira began a great rebuilding on the ridge, and the Konjikido was raised in 1124 as his own mortuary hall. Fire in 1337 took most of the rest of the complex. The Konjikido was later listed as the first building on Japan's National Treasure register, and Hiraizumi was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2011.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission when checked was 1,000 yen for adults on the standard ticket, which covers the Konjikido, the Sankozo treasure hall, the sutra repository and the old shelter hall. A combined ticket priced higher adds the periodic showing of the hidden images.
- Before you go
- The temple is open every day of the year, but the closing hour shortens for winter. Hiraizumi holds snow through the cold months, and Getsuzaka is a genuine slope rather than a flat path, so footwear matters here more than at most temples.
- Another way
- By car the temple is reached from the Hiraizumi-Maesawa interchange on the Tohoku Expressway. Three car parks serve the site, and the highest of them, Saka-no-ue, leaves the shortest walk up to the main hall.
- After you get off
- From Hiraizumi Station the temple gate lies about two kilometres to the northwest. Take the route bus or the weekend loop bus rather than counting on the walk if your time is tight. From the gate, the climb up Getsuzaka is the last stretch and it is uphill the whole way.