page_title: Buddhist temples in Japan
section_title: General features
hierarchical_section_title: Buddhist temples in Japan / Architecture / General features
caption_attribution_description: English: Nishi Honganji in Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture, Japan 日本語: 西本願寺。所在地は京都府京都市。
context_page_description: Buddhist temples, or Buddhist monasteries together with Shinto shrines, are considered to be amongst the most numerous, famous, and important religious buildings in Japan. The shogunates or leaders of Japan have made it a priority to update and rebuild Buddhist temples since the Momoyama period. The Japanese word for a Buddhist temple is tera, and the same kanji also has the pronunciation ji, so that temple names frequently end in -dera or -ji. Another ending, -in, is normally used to refer to minor temples. Such famous temples as Kiyomizu-dera, Enryaku-ji, and Kōtoku-in are temples which use the described naming pattern.
context_section_description: Buddhist architecture in Japan is not native, but imported from China and other Asian cultures over the centuries with such constancy that the building styles of all Six Dynasties are represented. Its history is, as a consequence, dominated by Chinese and other Asian techniques and styles (present even in Ise Shrine, held to be the quintessence of Japanese architecture) on one side, and by Japanese original variations on those themes on the other.
  Partly due also to the variety of climates in Japan and the millennium encompassed between the first cultural import and the last, the result is extremely heterogeneous, but several practically universal features can be found nonetheless. First of all is the choice of materials, always wood in various forms (planks, straw, tree bark, etc.) for almost all structures. Unlike both Western and some Chinese architecture, the use of stone is avoided except for certain specific uses, for example temple podia and pagoda foundations.
  The general structure is almost always the same: post and lintel support a large and gently curved roof, while the walls are paper-thin, often movable and in any case non-carrying. The post and lintel structure embodies the Axis Mundi of the an iconic form of the Buddha which is typically represented in Pagodas and Indian Stupas. Arches and barrel roofs are completely absent. Gable and eave curves are gentler than in China and columnar entasis (convexity at the center) limited.
  The roof is the most visually impressive component, often constituting half the size of the whole edifice. The slightly curved eaves extend far beyond the walls, covering verandas, and their weight must therefore be supported by complex bracket systems called tokyō. These oversize eaves give the interior a characteristic dimness, which contributes to the temple's atmosphere. The interior of the building normally consists of a single room at the center called moya, from which sometimes depart other less important spaces, for example corridors called hisashi.
  Inner space divisions are fluid, and room size can be modified through the use of screens or movable paper walls. The large, single space offered by the main hall can therefore be altered according to the need. The separation between inside and outside is itself in some measure not absolute as entire walls can be removed, opening the temple to visitors. Verandas appear to be part of the building to an outsider, but part of the external world to those in the temple. Structures are therefore made to a certain extent part of their environment. The use of construction modules keeps proportions between different parts of the edifice constant, preserving its overall harmony.(On the subject of temple proportions, see also the article ken).
  Even in cases as that of Nikkō Tōshō-gū, where every available space is heavily decorated, ornamentation tends to follow, and therefore emphasize rather than hide, basic structures.
  Being shared by both sacred and profane architecture, these architectonic features made it easy converting a lay building into a temple. This happened for example at Hōryū-ji, where a noblewoman's mansion was transformed into a religious building.
  Buddhist architecture of the Heian Period consisted of the re-emergence of national tastes. The temple Hojoji represents paradise and the pure land which embodies elements of Pure Land Buddhism. The last formal temple was Motsuji.
  Muroji is a temple complex found below the mountain of Mount Muro. The area behind the temple is sacred and is off limits to visitors and pilgrims. The caves of Mount Muro are especially sacred. The famous Dragon Cave is the thought to house the Dragon King who protects the country. This is an example of how natural elements are sacred aspects of Buddhist Temples.
  There are four great temples of the seventh century: Askuadera, Kudara Odera, Kawaradera, and Yakushiji.
caption: The roof is the dominant feature of a Buddhist temple.
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