Inside the “New” Temple Building at Shogunzuka Overlooking Kyoto

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/30 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 —
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Geometric Temple

the “new” temple building at Shogunzuka, Kyoto Japan

将軍家の新しい本堂（元は道場でした）

This post continues from “New Views of Kyoto
from Shogunzuka’s New Observation Deck”, about some big construction at
Shougunzuka (将軍家) on a mountain overlooking eastern Kyoto that finally
completed last fall. This post looks at the “new” temple building.

In that previous post I showed this photo of the new temple building from the outside:

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 —
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This looks a bit odd for a temple building, and from the back you can see that it has what appears to be distinctly-new and distinctly-old sections:

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50mm — 1/125 sec, f/10, ISO 100 —
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From the Back

後ろからの景色







Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 —
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Entrance

flanked by shelves where one can put their shoes, which must be taken off before entering

Above the entrance is a richly engraved/painted sign showing the name of
the place. It's rare for me to see one new with all its splendid colors...
normally they haven't been painted in 100 years, and any paint fragments
that might remain are well faded. With that being the norm, this new one
was almost grotesque in its vibrance:

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 78mm — 1/160 sec, f/5, ISO 280 —
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“Blue Dragon Rank”

I'm not really sure how the name (青龍段) would translate, so that's just a guess

Even the little cushion-pillows between the sign and the holders were splendidly new:

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 —
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Puffy

The wood was clearly quite old, made to look all the older by the newness of some of the embellishments:

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240mm — 1/320 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 —
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Old and New

Inside it looked nothing like a normal temple...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.6, ISO 320 —
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I asked about it, and it turns out that it's an old dojo
(martial-arts arena, like this). It had been carefully dismantled and brought here piece by piece,
then painstakingly reassembled.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 —
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Wonderful Ceiling








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/30 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200 —
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From the Side

entrance is on the left; the temple altar is off to the right

The new part of the building seen tacked on in the “From the Back” shot
is where they put the altar and all the religious stuff, and in the shot
above it's just out of frame to the right, where all the warm incandescent
light is spilling into the dojo.

I know enough not to use a camera inside a temple building without
asking, so that's the first thing I'd done when I came inside, before even
asking about the building's history. I was told that it was fine so long as
I don't photograph the altar area, so I didn't. Moments after talking to
me, the lady had to go stop a Japanese guy from taking pictures of the
altar.

The shape of the building made photography fun...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200 —
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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 19mm — 1/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2500 —
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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1000 —
map & image data — nearby photos








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 —
map & image data — nearby photos







Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 —
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Repairs

you can see many spots where the wood was repaired

(though it's not clear that all repairs are recent)







Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/11, ISO 360 —
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From The Old Observation Tower

with the new observation deck behind, and north-east Kyoto in the background