Gotanjoji Temple

Kazuo and I visited Gotanjoji Temple on April 19th. It is a Soto sect Zen Buddhist temple located on Mount Banshozan in Shoden-cho, Echizen city in Fukui prefecture. The temple specializes in ascetic practices where trainee monks undergo daily ascetic training. The temple was founded as a small hall building in 1948 by Ueda Masayuki in Hoyama, Echizen. Hoyama is the birthplace of Keizen, the founder of Soto Daihonzan Sojiji Temple Monastery. The hall later fell into disrepair but another small hall was erected at the current site in 2002 by a former Soto sect head, Itabashi Koshu. The present temple was constructed in 2009 and was approved as a training dojo.

Gotanjoji is commonly known as Nekodera or the Cat Temple. When the present main hall was being constructed in 2008, the head priest rescued four abandoned cats from the temple precincts. The priests and ascetic monks took care of about 80 cats at its peak, and currently has about 30 cats living there. The temple spays all the cats and provides medical treatment for cats with injury or disease. A monk feeds the cats every day at around 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. It is recommended to visit during the cat mealtime.

We reached the temple at about 11 am. Saw so many cats sleeping or resting in the temple premises. It was like a paradise for us and a very memorable trip to Echizen area.

Gotanjoji Temple premises

A seven-meter-tall stone statue of seated Daibutsu Buddha was erected in front of the main hall of the temple in 2019.

Daibutsu and Kazuo

There is a playful cat on the left arm of the Buddha and a sleeping cat nestled on the right knee of Daibutsu.

The main hall of the temple is wooden. Its construction started in 2008 and formally opened in 2009. A principal image of Shaka Nyorai (Shakyamuni) is enshrined inside the hall.

Hubby standing in front of the main hall.

A principal image of Shaka Nyorai is enshrined

There is a small hall named Jibutsu-do hall located in the temple precincts. The hall was constructed in 2013. Many statues of standing and sitting Buddhas and other artifacts are stored inside the hall.

Inside Jibutsu-do hall

Many statues and artifacts inside Jibutsu-do hall

We walked around the temple premises and saw rows and rows of Jizo Bosatsu statues. We also saw a stone statue of a cat.

Rows of stone Jizo Bosatsu in the temple precincts.

A stone statue of a cat in the temple precincts.

We saw many cats sleeping or relaxing in the temple precincts. It was so nice to click their photos without disturbing them. I made two collages of a few cats.

Collage of a few cats relaxing or sleeping in the temple precincts.

Another collage of a few more cats.

We had lunch at Echizen Takefu Railway Station which is located just a few kilometers from Gotanjoji Temple. It is a railway station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line. The station opened in March 2024 and has many state-of-the-art facilities.

I am standing in front of Echizen Takefu Railway Station.

We returned to Gotanjoji Temple at about 3 pm and saw a monk feeding the injured and diseased cats.

Feeding time for injured and diseased cats

Meanwhile many cats waited patiently to be fed around a long rain gutter which is used as a cat dish to put their food. At about 3.30 pm, a monk fed all the cats. It was a wonderful sight with cats of all colors and sizes gathered in a row around the rain gutters and happily feasting.

Cats waiting to be fed

Cats feeding

 Cats gathered in a row around the rain gutters and relishing their food

It was too cute to see so many cats eating together.

We had a relaxing time with cats at Gotanjoji Temple.