One very interesting, and also quite rare type of Japanese Buddhist constructions is the revolving, circular repository called rinzō, a “wheel repository". This is where the sacred sutras are preserved, and a particular about this construction is that it sits on a central pillar, and can be rotated easily, by pushing handles.

Photographed here is the Rokkaku Kyuzo, hexagonal sutra repository on the Koya-san area, one of the few remaining in Japan where anyone is allowed to rotate it. Similar to the Tibetan prayer wheels, rotating the rinzō symbolizes the reading of the sutra.

Rokkaku Kyuzo, Koya-san, Wakayama

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Kyoto Kiyomizu-dera stage