Myōgyōji was founded in 1604 by Nichizen in Kojimachi Shimizudani, later relocated to Yotsuya Samegawabashi Minami Town in 1624, and finally moved to its current location in Nishi-Sugamo in 1909.
Project Name: Chamel House In Sugamo
Studio Name: Love Architecture
Status: Built
The temple grounds include the main hall with the Great Mandala as its principal object of worship, a memorial tower for war casualties, an eel memorial tower erected by the Tokyo Eel Grilling Association, a fish market memorial tower for animals sacrificed in the market, the sacred stone where the spirit is believed to reside, and the tomb of Oiwa-san, made famous by the “Yotsuya Kaidan” ghost story, located behind a torii gate.
Unlike world religions like Christianity or Islam, which often exclude, overwrite, or coexist with indigenous religions, Japan embraced the coexistence of Shinto and Buddhism as early as the 6th century. With the development of the honji suijaku theory (the idea that gods and Buddhas are one), diverse belief systems merged without exclusion, a practice that continued until the Meiji government’s separation of Shinto and Buddhism around 1300 years later. Thus, the Japanese perspective on religion is inherently syncretic, with expressions often appearing random. In the case of Myōgyōji, the objects of worship include the main hall and Jōgyō-sama (Buddhism), the torii gate (Shinto), memorial towers and Oiwa-san’s tomb (ancestral spirits), eel and fish market memorials (animal spirits), and sacred stones (animism). These diverse beliefs coexist harmoniously.
Attraction / Miniaturism / Representation
Rather than directly confronting nature, the Japanese prefer to attract a part of its beauty, isolate it, and then appreciate it. They then reduce the size of the captured elements and arrange them to resemble natural landscapes. This is seen in practices like bonsai, ikebana (flower arranging), and karesansui (dry landscape gardens). Myōgyōji’s garden follows this tradition, with constructed mounds and arrangements of stones, plants, and moss that are represented as a great mountain, with stepping stones forming a miniature depiction of a mountain retreat. The cemetery even includes a scaled-down version of a torii gate.
Completing the Syncretic Religion and Kacho-fugetsu Program
While Myōgyōji includes elements of syncretic religion and the beauty of nature, there was no master plan, and the existing structures impeded its cohesion. Expanding the ossuary and collective tomb uses the existing structures to enhance the sanctity of the temple. The main hall, memorial towers, Jōgyō-sama, and the borrowed view of the Zen’yōji main hall, with their characteristic curved roofs of old buildings, were integrated into the design. A new hōjō-style roof is proposed for the ossuary and collective tomb, creating a landscape where the roofline surrounds the garden. This forms a miniature mountain temple complex, similar to the relationship between a head temple and its subsidiary temples, as seen at Daitoku-ji. The physical distance between the main hall (Buddhism) and the syncretic religious structures represents the mental distance between the more tangible ancestral spirits and the abstract, transcendent nature of Buddhism for the Japanese.
Double Roof as an Environmental Device
The newly expanded ossuary is adjacent to a memorial tower, which is intended to pray for the peace of the deceased and ancestors. The Myōgyōji memorial tower follows the multi-storied pagoda format, with a square base and circular upper section, characteristic of Japanese pagodas dating back to the early Heian period. In the urban context with fire regulations, the tower is made of concrete rather than wood, creating a dissonance in its appearance. Due to the irregular and narrow site, a polygonal plan was chosen to maximize space. According to the Toshima Ward regulations, the structure must be fire-resistant, so the double roof was designed not as an aesthetic result but as a functional necessity for the ossuary.
The first layer of the roof is a wooden structure, not serving as the main load-bearing element but as an eave. The rhythm of the rafters, braces, and battens integrates with the wooden exterior walls, forming a perspective and rhythm for the approach and corridor. The eaves filter out noise from the surroundings and frame a green landscape. The upper layer of the roof is made of concrete, following regulations. The roof’s concave shape from the eaves to the ceiling brings in natural light from the high-side windows, creating a magical lighting effect. The double roof links with existing buildings in the long view, creating an entrance space with a horizontal roof and a vertical one to create a sacred interior for the prayer space.
Collective Tomb
The collective tomb will be covered by a hipped roof, which forms a continuous roofline enclosing the garden. To create a miniature effect, the entrance eaves will be lowered to about 1.7 meters, making it harder to peek inside. The highest part of the eaves marks the entrance. The roof, along with the boundary separating the gravel and white stone, forms a sacred divide between the sacred and the secular. The central part of the tomb contains a stone coffin or a mound resembling a natural stone grave, placed reverently under the large roof. The underside of the roof, painted dark brown like the main hall, is somewhat dim, contrasting with the white marble monument and surrounding white stones at the tomb’s top, which shine when illuminated by top light, creating a divine atmosphere.
