Daikyoji was founded in 1629. What made it famous across Edo was an accident: in the Anei era a figure of Taishakuten, said to have been carved by Nichiren himself, was discovered in the main hall, and devotion to Taishakuten rose sharply from there. Taishakuten is Indra, the god of war and valor who receives more hymns than any other in the oldest scriptures of India — a deity who traveled all the way from India to Shibamata in Katsushika.
Most people come today for two things: the astonishing decorative carvings on the halls, a three-dimensional telling of the Lotus Sutra known as the sculpture gallery, and the strolling garden Suikeien, which holds a traditional Japanese beauty. Neither is a glance-and-go object — the carvings must be walked around, the garden must be walked through, and both take time, which makes the place naturally suited to a paced passage of an itinerary rather than a checkpoint.
The choice of spaces is wide: the precinct at 750 sqm (190 seated, 380 standing), the Dai-kyaku-den at 86 sqm (30 seated, 54 standing), and two meeting rooms and a hall in the Hosho Kaikan building (20 to 50 people each). From a closed meeting of thirty to a standing reception of three hundred and eighty, one temple absorbs it.
The best way to see it is to link it with the 200-meter approach at its gate: eat along the street first, then enter the temple for the carvings and the garden. Two hundred meters of street plus one temple make a complete afternoon.