Five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple Coloring Pages

As a Wooden Tower, It Is the Tallest in Japan

The Five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple in Kyoto City is 54.8 meters tall. That is about as tall as a 15-story building! As a tower made of wood, it is the tallest in Japan. It stands near Kyoto Station, so you can even see it from the window of the Shinkansen bullet train. It is a tower that acts like a landmark, letting you know that you have arrived in Kyoto.

The Long Metal Part at the Top Is Called "Sorin"

Can you see the long, thin metal pole sticking straight up into the sky from the very top roof? This is called a Sorin, and it is an important decoration for the tower. If you look closely, nine rings are stacked together. On top of them, there is a flame-shaped ornament and a round ball. This Sorin alone takes up about one-fourth of the tower's total height!

The "Taruki" Packed Closely Under the Roofs

Take a look under each roof. You can see thin wooden sticks packed closely together, spreading out like rays of light. These are called Taruki. They are wooden beams made to support the weight of the roof. On the Five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple, they are placed in a double layer. On the third coloring page, these Taruki are drawn one by one, so be sure to take your time coloring them!

Small Bells Hanging from the Four Corners

Can you see the small bell-like objects hanging from the four corners of each roof? These are called Futaku, and they chime gently when the wind blows. They hang from all four corners of the 5 roof layers, so there are 20 of them in total! Try to find them in the coloring page, too.

The Current Tower Is the 5th Generation. It Burned Down 4 Times!

Actually, this tower is the 5th generation. It has burned down 4 times in the past, mostly caused by lightning strikes. Lightning strikes taller buildings more easily, so lightning was a big enemy for the tower. The tower standing today was donated and built by Iemitsu Tokugawa in Kanei 21 (1644). Since then, it has stood without burning down even once for nearly 380 years!

Things Brought Back by Kukai Are Inside the Tower

Toji Temple is known as the temple of Kobo Daishi Kukai. Inside this Five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple, Busshari (Buddha's ashes) that Kukai brought back from China are stored. The tower is a National Treasure, and all of Toji Temple was registered as a World Heritage Site in 1994 as part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto."

Color the wooden parts dark brown

This tower is made of wood, so the pillars and walls are dark brown. It has turned dark over many years, so mixing a little bit of black over brown will look great. Be careful, because it is not gold like Kinkakuji Temple, or white like Himeji Castle. If you color the lower floors darker and the upper floors a little lighter, it will look super tall!

The roof is bluish gray. Leave the rafters white

The roof uses tiles, so a dark bluish gray is perfect. Here is an important trick: do not color the rafters under the roof, and leave them white. When you make the roof dark and keep the rafters white, that fan-like pattern will stand out clearly. If you color everything, you will hide the best part of the picture!

Color the sorin and futaku like metal

The sorin at the very top and the futaku wind bells on the four corners are made of metal. Try mixing a little green into gray just for these parts. Old copper turns greenish, so it will look real! This color looks beautiful when it pops out from the dark brown wood. If you color each ring of the sorin one by one, it will look cool and 3D!

Imagine when the bottom doors open

On the bottom floor, there are big double doors. They are usually closed, but they open on special days so people can see inside. Golden statues of Buddha sit inside. If you color around the doors dark and use a bright color for the doors, it will look like they are about to open right now!

The Center Pillar Itself is a Buddha

In the middle of the tower, there is a thick pillar that goes all the way from the bottom to the top. This is called the shinbashira. Here comes the amazing part! At the Five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple, this center pillar itself is seen as the Buddha Dainichi Nyorai. Because of this, there is no statue of Dainichi Nyorai inside. Instead, four Nyorai statues and eight Bosatsu statues surround the pillar. Isn't it surprising that a part of a building is actually a Buddha?

A Tower That Lost to Lightning 4 Times

Most of the times the Five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple burned down in the past were because of lightning strikes. Long ago, when there were no tall buildings around, a tower almost 55 meters high was an easy target for lightning! Even so, people rebuilt it every single time. Today, the tower has a proper lightning rod, so you do not need to worry about it burning from lightning anymore.

A World Heritage Site You Can Walk to from Kyoto Station

The Five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple is about a 15-minute walk from Kyoto Station. It is very rare for a World Heritage site to be this close to a train station! When the Shinkansen gets close to Kyoto Station, look out the window on the right side of the train, and you will see the Five-storied pagoda of Toji Temple. If you ever go to Kyoto, be sure to look for it out your window!