The Nio Gate

Main entrance to Kotokuin Temple, likely moved to this location in the early eighteenth century along with the two Benevolent Kings that flank it. These guardian figures are fierce by design, their mouths shaped to form the sounds "a" and "un," the first and last syllables of the Japanese language, representing birth and death. The gate bears a second name, Daiizan, taken from the temple's full formal name, Daiizan Kotokuin Shojosenji. A plaque records that this inscription was placed here to mark the entrance to one of Japan's most visited sites.