A Temple Revitalization Project: Connecting to the Next Generation with an Integrated Hotel
-Mitsui Garden Hotel Kyoto Kawaramachi Jokyoji-

More than 75,000 temples are scattered across Japan. Outnumbering convenience stores, they are a familiar sight to the Japanese people. However, many of them are said to be on the verge of extinction due to aging structures, a lack of successors and declining worshippers. (Source: Agency for Cultural Affairs, "Material on Statistics Related to Religion," Magazine of the Convenience Store Industry).

Rebuilding Torodo Jokyoji’s 190-year-old buildings represented a pressing need. The current 44th temple abbot pondered the high reconstruction costs and consulted with his predecessor and others who had such experience. After much deliberation and discussion, he came upon rebuilding the temple as a joint venture with other businesses.

Torodo Jokyoji is located on Teramachi-dori, home to one of the largest number of temples in Kyoto, and the nation’s top sightseeing area. It also stands close to the busy shopping streets of Ponto-cho, Gion and Shijo Kawaramachi, making it a very convenient base for sightseeing. The idea of integrating the temple with a hotel emerged here.

In fact, the current temple abbot is a former banker with flexible ideas, contacts in the business world, and unconstrained by Buddhist conventions. A collaboration ensued with Mitsui Fudosan, owner of the Mitsui Garden Hotel brand. With NSD’s nomination by Mitsui Fudosan to design the interior, the unprecedented project was launched.

Before reconstruction work began, the NSD design team paid a visit to Torodo Jokyoji. Upon entering the main hall, they found that, even in daylight, the faint glow cast by the inner sanctuary’s 48 “toro" (lanterns) amid the darkness created a truly magical atmosphere.

Compelled by the beauty of the lantern light, the shadows in the hall, and the solemn ambiance unique to temples, the team decided to include this impression in the hotel's interior design concept.

After much pondering, they decided to unify the hotel's interior, furniture, and artwork in black and white. Ornate décor was eliminated in favor of creating 'marginal spaces' throughout the indoor area. This ethereal design succeeded in recreating the deeply solemn, temple-like atmosphere.

The NSD team proposed reusing the temple’s decorations, building materials and artifacts before its demolition, as objects that are part of its long history can bring depth and dimension to a space. One such example is the “kibana” (decorative beam end) monument on the hotel lobby wall. Made in 1829, this valuable wooden sculpture and cultural item formerly adorned both ends of the “koryo” (arched beam) that runs through the main temple hall columns. Under normal conditions, it is not possible to view them at such close range, as they are mounted atop the columns.

The reception counter’s back wall is decorated with art that combines other central wooden decorations from the arched beam, with newly created ceramic reliefs. A pair of “tomebuta-gawara” tiles adorned with lions, which had been used at the north and south ends of the main temple hall, were mounted in the reception area and in the 2nd floor elevator hall. Other items, such as an old map of Kyoto from Japan’s provincial war era, “giboshi” (balustrade pillar ornaments), “nagamochi” (trunks for storing items used in Buddhist rituals), and old timber from the outer temple corridor floor have been carefully reused. In this way, old items have been given new value.

The seven-meter high, two-story lobby atrium features a white wall painted with sweeping brush strokes by artist Gen Miyamura. The name of the work is derived from the Buddhist concept of "Kuu" (emptiness), meaning "nothing exists that does not change”. The digitally collaged calligraphic lines and open margins accurately embody the hotel's design concept of the beauty of empty space.

In the center of the large bath is a traditional handbasin, with illuminated wall art, reminiscent of ink paintings, in the background. By blacking out the rest of the interior, only the handbasin and the artwork stand out in mystical relief, creating an infinite depth of space. In addition, lucid original background music plays to create a calm, meditative space.

Upon entering a guest room, the washbasin, akin to a traditional handbasin, catches the eye first. Its deliberate placement near the room entrance (rather than in the toilet/shower area) affords a taste of the ritual of purifying the hands when entering the temple grounds. Guest room lighting and corridor signs displaying room numbers are designed in lantern style motif, a homage to Torodo Jokyoji.

A section of the hotel’s ground floor has been transformed into the new Torodo Jokyoji. To create a sense of unity with the temple, a small window was opened in the lobby, allowing a view into the main hall. As the hall is normally closed to the public, this represents a unique experience, as if admiring art. The 'Morning Service Experience', available only to hotel guests, has also been well received. From the lobby, incense and original background music flow, occasionally interspersed with the soft ring of an orin (a bell used during sutra chanting). In this way, guests feel the temple by sight, smell, and sound. The hotel embodies the abbot’s wish that guests feel close to the temple.

The design, which affords a sense of the temple's atmosphere throughout, has been lauded domestically and abroad, and has received various accolades, including the following three awards.

- iF DESIGN AWARD 2022 iF DESIGN AWARD
- INTERIOR PLANNING AWARD 2022 Grand Prize
- DFA Design For Asia Awards 2022 Bronze Award

With an increasing number of small temples forced to close due to various issues, "temple hotels for the next generation" are expected to become models for revitalization. NSD will continue to contribute to the resolution of social issues through the power of design.