Kōshō-ji Temple, Buddhist temple in Yagoto, Nagoya, Japan
Kōshō-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple on Yagoto Hill in Yagoto-hommachi, Nagoya. A broad paved walkway leads to the dark timber main hall, its open facade showing shadowed interior space between pillars. Low wooden structures with small tiled roofs flank the approach, and a five-storey pagoda completed in 1808 stands among the surrounding trees.
A monk built a hermitage here in 1686, receiving official backing from the Tokugawa clan two years later. In the early 19th century, the wooden structure gained recognition as a national cultural property.
The temple is commonly known as Yagoto Kannon, and its mountain name is Yagotoyama. It belongs to the Koyasan Shingon sect, not Zen. On the 5th and 13th of each month, stalls set up for the temple fair, and in October the Thousand Lantern Memorial Service is held, also called Nagoya's Fire Festival.
The temple is about a three-minute walk from Yagoto Station on the Tsurumai and Meijo subway lines. The grounds are split between the Nishiyama and Higashiyama precincts, and a parking area for worshippers stands on the site. Market stalls are set up on the 5th and 13th of each month.
The temple grounds are split into two precincts: Nishiyama Fumon-in, with the main hall, and Higashiyama Henjo-in, which holds the Okunoin. The Chumon gate was moved here from a former women's gate that once marked the boundary of the women-forbidden Higashiyama area. The Higashiyama gate is said to have been relocated from Nagoya Castle during the Hoei era.
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