One of Yamaguchi’s Top Historic Sites! A Travel Guide to Rurikoji Temple

In the Muromachi period, the samurai Ouchi Yoshihiro built Kozekiji on what is now Kozan Park.
In 1399, Ouchi Yoshihiro started the Oei Rebellion, was defeated by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and died in battle.
His younger brother, Ouchi Moriakira, built a five-story pagoda at Kozekiji to mourn his brother.
During its construction, he died in battle against the Shoni clan of Kyushu, but the five-story pagoda was completed around 1442.
After the Edo shogunate was established, the warlord Mori Terumoto moved Kozekiji to Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
On the former site, Nio Rurikoji was relocated, becoming today’s Rurikoji Temple.
With the relocation, the five-story pagoda came to be called the Rurikoji Five-Story Pagoda.
Nio Rurikoji, the predecessor of Rurikoji Temple, was a temple founded in 1471 by the wife of Sue Hirofusa, a Muromachi-period warlord, to mourn him after his death.
Before it was relocated, it stood in what is now Niho Takano, Yamaguchi City.

One of Japan’s three most famous pagodas, alongside the five-story pagodas of Horyuji Temple in Nara Prefecture and Daigoji Temple in Kyoto Prefecture.
It was designated a National Treasure after being recognized as the finest architectural work of the mid-Muromachi period.
It stands 31.2 m tall and was built using traditional Japanese methods.
Its form is striking, balancing a sharp impression with a sense of stability.
Another feature is its relatively minimal decoration for a Muromachi-period structure.
The view of the hillside behind it and the pagoda reflected in the pond in front is beautiful, with seasonal scenery throughout the year—cherry blossoms in spring, fresh greenery in summer, autumn leaves in fall, and snowy landscapes in winter.
The Rurikoji Five-Story Pagoda was built together with Kozekiji, which Ouchi Moriakira established to mourn his brother Ouchi Yoshihiro, who died in battle in the Oei Rebellion.
Although Kozekiji was relocated elsewhere, the five-story pagoda remained, and when Rurikoji Temple was moved here, it took on its current name, the Rurikoji Five-Story Pagoda.
A five-story pagoda is a Buddhist structure built to enshrine the remains or relics of Shakyamuni, and it is a tower built to mourn the dead.

The Rurikoji Museum features materials related to the National Treasure Rurikoji Five-Story Pagoda, a 1/15-scale model showing its framework, and models of five-story pagodas from around Japan.
Another highlight is a set of portraits depicting the founder of Rurikoji through the third head priest, painted by Sesshu, an ink-wash painter active during the Muromachi period.
With many exhibits related to Japan’s five-story pagodas, it’s a great stop for anyone interested in Japanese architecture.

Chinryutei has a calm, understated presence.
It is a detached residence of a wealthy merchant that the Mori clan—lords of the Choshu Domain (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture)—used as their main quarters during sankin-kotai, the system of alternating yearly travel between their domain and Edo (present-day Tokyo).
Because it once stood along the banks of the Ichinosakagawa River that runs through the city, it came to be known as Chinryutei.
In the late Edo period, this was the site of secret talks where the Satsuma Domain (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture) and the Choshu Domain vowed to form the Satcho Alliance to overthrow the Edo shogunate. It’s no exaggeration to say the Meiji Restoration began here.
Inside Chinryutei, you can see panel displays about the Satcho Alliance and the tatami room where the meeting was held.

A teahouse built in 1863 by Mori Takachika, the lord of the Choshu Domain.
It was named Rozando after a tea room was set at the foot of a mountain called Ichirozan, dropping the “Ichi” from the name Ichirozan.
This was a building where Mori Takachika pretended to enjoy tea gatherings while repeatedly holding discussions plotting against the shogunate.
After the domain was abolished, Rozando became abandoned, but Mori Takachika’s close aide Shinagawa Yajiro purchased it with supporters and relocated it to the grounds of Rurikoji Temple.
Rozando also has a Japanese garden, with a mossy beauty and a quietly mysterious atmosphere.

In Kozan Park, in front of the “Mori Family Cemetery,” there is a mysterious spot called the “nightingale stone pavement.”
On the stone paving of the approach to the Mori Family Cemetery, clapping your hands or stamping your feet makes a beautiful sound that echoes like a nightingale’s call.
Another interesting point is that it was not created intentionally.

Sesshu was an ink-wash painter and Zen monk active during the Muromachi period. Under the patronage of the Ouchi clan, he moved to Suo and traveled to Ming China to study ink painting, becoming so renowned that he was called a master painter. Six of his surviving works—including “Amanohashidate,” and “Four Seasons Landscape (Landscape Handscroll)”—have been designated National Treasures, placing him in a class of his own in the history of Japanese painting.
This garden at Joeiji Temple, known as the Joeiji Temple Sesshu Garden, is said to have been created in the mid-Muromachi period when Ouchi Masahiro ordered Sesshu to build it as a villa garden. Located north of the main hall of Joeiji Temple, it is a pond-stroll garden that makes use of a deep landscape surrounded by mountains on three sides.

The former main residence of the head family of the Mori clan, the former lords of the Choshu Domain, who made a name as Sengoku-period daimyo who ruled the Chugoku region and later became dukes after the Meiji Restoration.
The grand shoin-style residence and stroll garden (designed with paths that circle around a large central pond) showcase the finest landscape design techniques of the Meiji and Taisho eras and are designated a nationally recognized Place of Scenic Beauty.
Unusual for the time, it is said to have been equipped with state-of-the-art facilities such as power generation equipment, a water supply system, flush toilets, and a refrigerator that used well water.
Today, part of the residence is the Mori Museum, which houses classical documents, armor, swords, tea utensils, lacquerware, and other arts and crafts, as well as paintings.

Founded in 904.
Japan’s first Tenmangu shrine, dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, who is revered as the god of learning.
There are Approx. 12,000 shrines across Japan that enshrine Sugawara no Michizane, and this shrine is known as Japan’s first Tenjin. Along with Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto and Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine in Fukuoka, it is said to be one of Japan’s three great Tenjin shrines.
With blessings for exam success and academic achievement, as well as household safety, health and longevity, and business prosperity, it draws many worshippers every day.