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Hojoji

Hōjō-ji (法乗寺) is a small Nichiren-shu Buddhist temple tucked into the old merchant-and-monastery town of Johana, in the city of Nanto at the edge of Toyama's fertile plain. Unlike the grand, ticketed temples of Japan's tour circuits, this is a working house of worship whose quiet frontage is one thread in the woven streetscape that earned Johana its reputation. The temple belongs to the Myōshōji lineage of the Nichiren school and enshrines the Lotus Sutra together with the figures of Shakyamuni and Taho as its central focus; its origins are traditionally traced to a missionary from Noto's Myōshōji who preached in Johana in 1649. It is best visited as part of a wander through Johana's historic lanes, the same temple-town setting that frames the celebrated Hikiyama float festival.