Treasures of Chuson-ji temple’s Golden Hall on display at Tokyo National Museum

A special exhibition to mark the 900th anniversary of the construction of the Golden Hall (Konjiki-do) at Chuson-ji temple — a part of the World Heritage site “Hiraizumi — Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land” in the northeastern Iwate Prefecture — is now running at the Tokyo National Museum in Tokyo’s Ueno Park.

Special Exhibition
The Golden Hall of Chūson-ji Temple

Jan 23 (Tue) – Apr 14 (Sun), 2024

Tokyo National Museum
(Ueno Park, Tokyo)

*See outline below for details

At “The Golden Hall of Chūson-ji Temple,” the exhibition in the museum’s Japanese Gallery (Honkan), visitors can admire all eleven wooden statues covered in gold leaf from the central altar of the hall dedicated to Amida Nyorai (the Buddha of Limitless Light) — all of which are designated national treasures and on view outside the temple grounds for the first time — as well as some of the ornaments that formerly adorned the hall.

Chuson-ji, a temple of the esoteric Tendai school, was founded in 850 by En’nin (posthumously known as Jikaku Daishi), who later became the third zasu or abbot of the school. In the 12th century, Fujiwara no Kiyohira (1056-1128), the first of the Oshu-Fujiwara clan that then ruled the Tohoku region, relocated to Hiraizumi and built a huge temple complex, which included the Golden Hall (completed in 1124). A 1/5 scale model of the Golden Hall (20th century) is also on display in the exhibition.

The exhibition runs through Apr. 14, 2024.

Other highlights

(Photos by Kazuki Matsuura)