Daitokuji: A Zen Temple Beyond Compare

Tokyo National Museum · Heiseikan, Special Exhibition Galleries · Tokyo · –

For Daitokuji’s 700th anniversary, the official checklist lists 157 works. This guide covers eleven: the founder Shūhō Myōchō’s calligraphy, Emperors Hanazono and Go-Daigo, Ikkyū’s Shinju-an, Sen no Rikyū and tea, treasures of the sub-temples, Southern Song arhat paintings and the Kanō painters. Ten stops are on view all run; the National Treasure yōhen tenmoku bowl only in the first period, October 14 to November 8.

In-depth audio guide

Features: Daitokuji: an eleven-work guide to a Zen temple

Plan your visit

Display periods
  • First period: –
  • Second period: –
Opening hours
09:30–17:00 Until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays and on Sunday Nov 1, Monday Nov 2 and Sunday Nov 22; last admission 30 minutes before closing.
Closed
Mondays and Tuesday Nov 24 (open Mondays Nov 2, Nov 23 and Nov 30; on Nov 30 only this exhibition is open and the collection galleries are closed).
Closed during the exhibition
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Admission
  • Adult ¥2,300
  • University student ¥1,300
  • High-school student ¥900
  • Junior-high student and younger ¥0
Reservation
No reservation needed; you may have to wait when it is crowded. Advance tickets (JPY 200 off each type) were sold Aug 7–Oct 13; during the run, same-day tickets are sold at the Main Gate ticket office and the online sellers listed on the official website. Free for junior-high students and younger and for people with disabilities plus one caregiver (show a student or disability ID). Students who are Tokyo National Museum Campus Members pay JPY 1,100 for a same-day ticket at the Main Gate ticket office with student ID. The ticket also admits you to the museum’s collection galleries on the same day (except Nov 30).

Information verified · Check the official site for same-day updates

Works (11)

National Treasure: 3 · Important Cultural Property: 3

  1. 2. Plaque: “The Nation’s Peerless Zen Temple” Calligrapher not named on the checklist · Material not confirmed; one plaque · Edo period, 17th century · Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto — Read the six characters on this plaque first: “the nation’s peerless Zen temple”, the praise Emperor Go-Daigo gave Daitokuji and the source of this exhibition’s title.
  2. 26. Kandoku Shinsen-Bō (Register of Sutras To Be Chanted) National Treasure Shūhō Myōchō · Ink calligraphy, support not confirmed; one scroll · Nanbokuchō period, 14th century · Shinju-an Temple, Kyoto — This National Treasure is in the hand of Daitokuji’s founder, Shūhō Myōchō, and a different part of the scroll is open in each period.
  3. 33. Question-and-Answer Dialogue Important Cultural Property Retired Emperor Hanazono and Shūhō Myōchō · Ink calligraphy, support not confirmed; two hanging scrolls · Kamakura period, 14th century · Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto — The checklist gives these two scrolls to two writers, Retired Emperor Hanazono and Shūhō Myōchō: a dialogue between a retired emperor and a Zen monk.
  4. 89. The Warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi Painter not named on the checklist · Support not confirmed; one hanging scroll · Edo period, 17th century · Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto — This portrait of Hideyoshi was painted in the Edo period, after his death in 1598, and recalls the many marks the ruler left on Daitokuji.
  5. 94. Tea Bowl, Named “Kizaemon Ido” National Treasure South Gyeongsang Province, Korea (place of production) · Ceramic with a glaze of feldspar mixed with wood ash; one bowl · Joseon dynasty, 16th century · Kohō-an Temple, Kyoto — Called the finest Korean tea bowl, it was once owned by an Osaka townsman and by Matsudaira Fumai, whose wife gave it to Kohō-an at Daitokuji.
  6. 96. Abbot Kōgetsu Sōgan (seated statue) Kōi · Material not confirmed; one seated statue · Edo period, 1632 · Ryōkō-in Temple, Kyoto — This statue was made in 1632, while Kōgetsu Sōgan was still alive; Ryōkō-in, home of the yōhen tea bowl, was founded with him as its first abbot.
  7. 115. Tea Bowl with Iridescent Spots (Yōhen Tenmoku) National Treasure Jian ware, China (place of production) · Ceramic with a jet-black glaze (Jian ware); one bowl · Southern Song dynasty, China, 12th–13th century · Ryōkō-in Temple, Kyoto — On view only until November 8: look first at the spots inside the bowl, crystals that formed by chance in a Southern Song Jian kiln.
  8. 129. The Five Hundred Arhats Important Cultural Property Lin Tinggui and Zhou Jichang · Colour on silk; sixteen of eighty-two hanging scrolls · Southern Song dynasty, China, 1178–1188 · Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto — Painters in Southern Song Ningbo spent about ten years on a hundred scrolls of arhats; sixteen of Daitokuji’s eighty-two are in the exhibition, though not necessarily all at once.
  9. 139. Night Parade of One Hundred Demons Important Cultural Property Attributed to Tosa Mitsunobu · Colour on paper; one handscroll · Muromachi period, 15th century · Shinju-an Temple, Kyoto — Shinju-an, the sub-temple founded with Ikkyū as its first abbot, keeps a scroll of parading monsters; among more than sixty known versions of the Night Parade, one whole group is named after it.
  10. 143. Birds and Flowers; Daoist Immortals Kanō Shōei · Support not confirmed; pair of standing screens · Azuchi-Momoyama period, 16th century · Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto — A pair of standing screens by Kanō Shōei, Eitoku’s father: meet the painter here, then find the National Treasure sliding doors his son painted for Jukō-in.
  11. 157. The Tea Master Sen no Rikyū Body sculpted by Tanaka Jōkei · Material not confirmed; one standing statue · Head: 1840; body: 1869 · Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto — A wooden statue of Rikyū is often named as one cause of his forced suicide; the statue before you is a later one: its head dates from 1840 and its body from 1869.

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