Japanese Pagoda
Multi-storied pagodas in wood and stone, and a ''gorintō'' Pagodas in Japan are called , sometimes or , and derive historically from the Chinese pagoda, itself an interpretation of the Indian ''stupa''. Like the ''stupa'', pagodas were originally used as reliquaries, but in many cases ended up losing this function. Pagodas are quintessentially Buddhist and an important component of Buddhist temples in Japan, Japanese Buddhist temple compounds but, because until the Shinbutsu bunri, Kami and Buddhas Separation Act of 1868, a Shinto shrine was normally Shinbutsu-shūgō, also a Buddhist temple and vice versa, they are not rare at shrines either. The famous Itsukushima Shrine, for example, has one. After the Meiji Restoration the word ''tō'', once used exclusively in a religious context, came to mean also "tower" in the western sense, as for example in . Of the Japanese pagoda's many forms, some are built in wood and are collectively known as , but most are carved out of ston ...
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