Ehime · Matsuyama DogoNo.1087★★Open in map →
Ishiteji Temple
A pilgrimage temple on the eastern edge of Matsuyama, entered through a lane of small shops. The two-storey gate at the front is a National Treasure, and six more of its buildings are nationally designated Important Cultural Properties.
- FromMatsuyama Station
- ~25 minIyotetsu city tram, then a walk
- Get off atDogo Onsen Station (Iyotetsu city tram)
- On foot
- Ishiteji Temple
The sweet spot
This is not a hidden temple. Matsuyama's official sightseeing pages list it, and it stands beside one of Japan's best known hot-spring quarters. What sets it apart is register rather than obscurity: Ishiteji is a live stop on the Shikoku circuit, not a museum, so what you see depends on the hour you walk in.
Where it is
29 more notes in Ehime · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Niomon Gatethe two-storey gate at the head of the approach, the temple's National Treasure
- Main hallan Important Cultural Property of the late Kamakura period, five bays square under a tiled hipped-and-gabled roof
- Three-storied pagodaa three-bay, three-storey pagoda in the Kamakura manner, also an Important Cultural Property
- Kariteimo Hallan Important Cultural Property still used for prayers for safe childbirth and for children
- Mantra tunnelan enclosed passage of about 160 metres leading off the grounds
How to actually get there
- Matsuyama Station → Dogo Onsen Station (Iyotetsu city tram bound for Dogo Onsen, about 25 minutes, terminus).
- Dogo Onsen Station → Ishiteji (walk east through the hot-spring quarter into the Ishite district; the Iyotetsu bus stop Ishiteji-mae is at the temple).
- Approach, gate, main hall and pagoda, then the Kariteimo hall and the mantra tunnel, returning the same way.
- Iyotetsu city tram from Matsuyama Station
- From the tram stop in front of JR Matsuyama Station, take the city tram bound for Dogo Onsen and stay on to the last stop. Iyotetsu's own guide and the Dogo Onsen official site both give about 25 minutes. Trams run through the day, and Dogo Onsen is the terminus, so there is no stop to watch for.
- Return from Dogo Onsen
- Walk back the way you came and board at Dogo Onsen Station. It is the terminus, so departures start from there and seats are easy. Services thin out later in the evening, so check the departure board at the stop if you are staying on for a bath.
About the place
Ishiteji stands in the Ishite district on the eastern edge of Matsuyama, a walk east of the Dogo Onsen quarter. It is the 51st stop on the Shikoku pilgrimage of 88 temples, a Shingon temple of the Buzan branch whose principal image is Yakushi Nyorai, the buddha of healing. The approach is not a formal avenue but a working lane of small shops selling pilgrim supplies and the local grilled rice cakes. Pilgrims in white move through it on their own circuit. The result reads less like a preserved monument than like a piece of equipment still in use.
How to enjoy it
Pair it with Dogo rather than treating it as a separate trip: walk the hot-spring quarter first, then continue east and let the temple close the outing. The temple's own site and the prefecture's tourism site both listed the treasure hall as open from 8:00 to 17:00 when checked, so a mid-afternoon arrival still fits. Leave a margin for the tunnel, which takes longer than its entrance suggests.
Background & history
The temple was founded under the name Anyoji. It became Ishiteji, literally stone hand, in 892, after the legend of Emon Saburo, a wealthy local said to have chased Kobo Daishi around Shikoku in penance and to have been reborn holding an inscribed stone. The two-storey gate was rebuilt in 1318 by the local lord Kono Michitsugu, and Matsuyama City rates it among the finest gates of its kind in the country. The guardian figures inside it are traditionally attributed to the school of the sculptor Unkei.
Before you go
- Cash
- Walking the grounds needs nothing. The only admission either the temple's own site or the prefecture's tourism site lists is the treasure hall, at 200 yen for an adult when checked. The city tram takes cash and cashless payment, and Iyotetsu's guide shows a lower fare for cashless, so a prepaid IC card is worth carrying.
- Before you go
- The grounds are open air and the mantra tunnel is an enclosed passage. The treasure hall keeps its own hours and shuts in the late afternoon, so a late arrival will find the buildings but not the collection.
- Another way
- The same city tram reaches Dogo Onsen from Matsuyamashi Station, the Iyotetsu terminal south of the centre, in about 20 minutes. Matsuyama City's official tourism site also notes an Iyotetsu bus stop named Ishiteji-mae right at the temple, which removes the walk on a wet day.
- After you get off
- Get off at Dogo Onsen, the terminus, walk east through the hot-spring quarter and keep to the same road into the Ishite district. The shop-lined approach opens off it and runs straight to the gate.