History

Katagiri Roshi envisioned Hokyōji as a temple complex modeled on Eiheiji, one of the two head temples of Sōtō Zen in Japan and the site of his own clerical training. The original site included 280 acres of land formerly used for grazing cattle, located on the Winnebago Creek two miles west of the Mississippi River in Houston County. Click here for an aerial photo.

Katagiri Roshi chose an interior portion of the site to house the eventual permanent complex, but meanwhile Hokyōji’s first "structures" were tents set up in a clearing closer to the entrance and used for zazen and cooking. Temporary platforms were later built under them in response to the excessively wet ground, and wooden structures eventually replaced the tents on the platforms as the number of practitioners grew. A permanent workshop was erected to serve as a base for the construction of other buildings, and a residence went up as well. Katagiri Roshi died before a final design for Hokyōji could be developed.

In 2002, MZMC reached an agreement to sell a significant portion of the land to the state Department of Natural Resources in order to raise much-needed funds. The remaining 105 acres, the current Hokyōji holdings, include the access road, buildings, Katagiri Roshi’s memorial stupa and the nearby gravesites of other sangha members.

Existing structures

Temple bell   •  Zendo   •  Kitchen and showers   •  Toolshed   •  Teacher’s cabin   •  Hermitage   •  Residence   •  Outhouses   •  Workshop   •  Stupa   •  Unpaved road