Kodaiji Temple

What to know

Kodaiji (高台寺, Kōdaiji) is a magnificent temple in Kyoto's Higashiyama District. It was founded in 1606 by Nene, the wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Japan's most iconic historical figures, to honor his memory. Nene herself is also enshrined here.

The temple belongs to the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. Its main structures were built in the opulent style of Japan's unification period, funded by Hideyoshi's successor, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The interiors are richly decorated, and the buildings are surrounded by diverse and beautiful gardens.

Visitors can enter the main hall (Hojo), which was originally adorned with lacquer and gold but was rebuilt more modestly after a fire in 1912. The hall is flanked on two sides by stunning gardens designed by leading masters of the time. These gardens are illuminated during special spring and autumn light-up events.

One garden is a rock garden with a vast expanse of raked gravel symbolizing the ocean. The other is an impressive tsukiyama-style garden featuring a pond, artificial hills, decorative stones, and lovely pine and maple trees. The maples turn brilliant red and orange during the autumn foliage season, typically in late November. Within this garden stands the Kaizando (memorial hall), where Nene prayed for Hideyoshi and which now houses wooden statues of both.

On the hillside behind the temple lies a mausoleum for Hideyoshi and Nene. Its interior is adorned with exquisite lacquerwork known as Kodaiji Makie, featuring designs in powdered gold and silver set in lacquer—a technique for which Kodaiji is renowned. Further up the hill are two tea houses, one designed by tea master Sen no Rikyu, as Hideyoshi was an avid tea ceremony enthusiast. The path back to the temple passes through a bamboo grove.

After exiting the temple, a staircase called Nene's Path leads back down to the streets of Higashiyama District. Across from Nene's Path is a recently redeveloped area with shops and cafes, home to the small Kodaiji Sho Museum, which displays treasures of Kodaiji, Nene, and lacquer artworks. The complex is surrounded by buildings of Entokuin Temple, a small subtemple of Kodaiji with two additional Zen gardens.