Chogaku-ji

Chogaku-ji is defined by its bell tower gate, a wooden structure recognized as the oldest of its kind in Japan. Established in eight hundred twenty-four by the monk Kukai, also known as Kobo Daishi, the temple sits along the Yamanobe no Michi, the country's oldest path. While it once spanned a massive complex of forty-eight pagodas, most structures were lost to conflict during the Onin War and a fire in fifteen hundred two.