Height 81.5 cm, Foundation element 21.4 cm square.

Along with the gorinto (five-tiered stupa), the hokyointo is a characteristic style of Japanese pagoda. The name of this elaborate pagoda style is derived from the Hokyoin Darani sutra, the earliest hokyointo, made of wood or gilded bronze, functioning as repositories for copies of that eponymous sutra. Beginning in the Kamakura Period (1192-1333), hokyointo were made nearly exclusively of stone and functioned as funerary markers, particularly of exalted personages. Accordingly, hokyointo are uncommon and only rarely surface in the local market. This fairly sizable example shows certain signs of being an unadulterated ensemble, i.e., each of its four composite elements is original to the piece. The line of repair is neither obtrusive nor particularly problematic.