Multi-storied pagodas in wood and stone, and a gorinto
Pagodas in Japan are called , sometimes or and historically derive from the Chinese
pagoda, itself an interpretation of the Indian
stupa. Like the
stupa, pagodas were originally used as
reliquaries but in many cases they ended up losing this function. Pagodas are quintessentially Buddhist and an important component of
Japanese Buddhist temple compounds but, because until the
Kami and Buddhas Separation Act of 1868 a
Shinto shrine was normally also a Buddhist temple and vice versa, they are not rare at shrines either. The famous
Itsukushima Shrine, for example, has one.
