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Japanese Buddhist Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185-1333). During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was cont ...
architectural style An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, for ...
derived from Chinese
Song Dynasty architecture A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...
. Named after the Zen sect of
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
which brought it to Japan, it emerged in the late 12th or early 13th century. Together with
Wayō is a Buddhist architectural style developed in Japan before the Kamakura period (1185-1333), and is one of the important Buddhist architectural styles in Japan along with ''Daibutsuyō'' and the ''Zenshūyō'', which were developed based on ...
and
Daibutsuyō is a Japanese religious architectural style which emerged in the late 12th or early 13th century. Together with ''Wayō'' and ''Zenshūyō'', it is one of the three most significant styles developed by Japanese Buddhism on the basis of Chinese mo ...
, it is one of the three most significant styles developed by Japanese Buddhism on the basis of Chinese models. Until
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, this style was called but, like the Daibutsuyō style, it was re-christened by Ōta Hirotarō, a 20th-century scholar. Its most typical features are a more or less linear layout of the garan, paneled doors hanging from hinges, intercolumnar '' tokyō'', cusped windows, tail rafters, ornaments called ''kibana'', and decorative pent roofs.
Kōzan-ji , officially , is a Buddhist temple of the Omuro sect of Shingon Buddhism in Umegahata Toganōchō, Ukyō-ku, Kyoto, Ukyō Ward, Kyoto, Japan. Kōzan-ji is also known as Kōsan-ji and Toganō-dera. The temple was founded by the Shingon scholar ...
's ''butsuden'' in
Shimonoseki file:141122 Shimonoseki City Hall Yamaguchi pref Japan01s3.jpg, 260px, Shimonoseki city hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,193 in 128,762 households and a pop ...
, Zenpuku-in's '' shaka-dō'' in
Kainan, Wakayama is a city located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 48,811 in 22129 households and a population density of 110 persons per km². The total area of the city is Geography Kainan is located in northern Wak ...
and Anraku-ji's
pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...
in
Ueda, Nagano is a Cities of Japan, city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 157,480 in 67,783 households, and a population density of 290 persons per km2. The total area of the city is , which makes it the fifth la ...
, all dating to the
Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...
, are considered the three most important Zenshūyō buildings. Kōzan-ji's ''butsuden'' (built in 1320) is the oldest extant building in the Zenshūyō style in Japan.


History

At the end of the 12th century, more or less while in Nara Chōgen was rebuilding
Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. The construction of the temple was an attempt to imitate Chinese temples from the much-admir ...
, and in the process was creating the architectural style that would later be called
Daibutsuyō is a Japanese religious architectural style which emerged in the late 12th or early 13th century. Together with ''Wayō'' and ''Zenshūyō'', it is one of the three most significant styles developed by Japanese Buddhism on the basis of Chinese mo ...
, two monks were introducing Zen to Japan. First was Eisai, who brought the
Rinzai school The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school, Linji s ...
teachings to
Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...
. Having the support of ''
shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...
''
Minamoto no Yoriie was the second ''shōgun'' (1202–1203) of Japan's Kamakura shogunate, and the first son of first shōgun Yoritomo. His Dharma name was Hokke-in-dono Kingo Da'i Zengo (法華院殿金吾大禅閤). Life Minamoto no Yoriie was born to Hōj ...
, he was able to found temples in both Kamakura and
Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
. A little later,
Dōgen was a Japanese people, Japanese Zen Buddhism, Buddhist Bhikkhu, monk, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. He is also known as Dōgen Kigen (), Eihei Dōgen (), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (), and Busshō Dent ...
introduced the
Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai school, Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Caodong school, Cáodòng school, which was founded during the ...
school to Japan. Unlike Eisai, he declined the support of Kamakura's
regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
Hōjō Tokiyori was the fifth shikken (regent of shogun) of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan. Early life He was born to warrior monk Hōjō Tokiuji and a daughter of Adachi Kagemori, younger brother of Hōjō Tsunetoki, the fourth shikken, and grandson of ...
and open his head temple, Eihei-ji, within the forests of today's
Fukui prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 737,229 (1 January 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,190 Square kilometre, km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture border ...
. The success of the Zen sects, which were embraced by the warrior caste, meant that they were able to introduce to the country also a new architectural style, like the Daibutsuyō derived from Song Dynasty architecture, but very different in spirit. After arriving in Japan the style started to evolve in response to local conditions and tastes. Among its innovations is the roof, covered in wood shingles rather than tiles, as in China. Also, Zen temple buildings have a so-called " hidden roof" structure, consisting in two roofs, the true one and a second underneath it. The second, false roof hides the first, making it possible to obtain sloping roofs and shallow eaves. The invention of the hidden roof in the 10th century allowed the inclination of the roof's underside to be completely different from that of the exterior, thus making Japanese temples feel very different from their Chinese counterparts.


Characteristics

The Zen sect was very successful, and therefore often imitated. Many of its innovations were therefore widely adopted by other Buddhist schools. Zenshūyō's characteristics are decorative pent roofs (''
mokoshi In Japanese architecture , literally "skirt storey" or "cuff storey", is a decorative pent roof surrounding a building below the true roof. Since it does not correspond to any internal division, the ''mokoshi'' gives the impression of there bein ...
'') and pronouncedly curved main roofs, cusped windows ('' katōmado''), earthen floors and paneled doors. Wood structures are relatively light, design light and orderly. All buildings are erected on stone podia and have either stone or earthen floors. Other important characteristics are: *More or less fixed ''garan'' composition and layout Zen's discipline is strict and its rules many and complex. As a consequence, the Zen '' garan'' has a typical elongated and bilaterally symmetrical layout where each building's shape, position, scale and use are predetermined. To the contrary, older schools like
Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...
and
Shingon is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō- ...
use more irregular building dispositions which take into account terrain characteristics. The typical Zen ''garan'', of which
Kenchō-ji Kenchō-ji (建長寺) is a Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, which ranks first among Kamakura's so-called Five Great Zen Temples (the ''Kamakura Gozan'') and is the oldest Zen training monastery in Jap ...
's is a good example, begins with a gate followed by another, larger one (''
sanmon A or is the most important mon of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, and is part of the Zen '' shichidō garan'', the group of buildings that forms the heart of a Zen Buddhist temple.JAANUS It can be often found in temples of other denominations ...
''), the main hall (the ''
butsuden Main hall or Main Temple is the building within a Japanese Buddhist monastery compound ('' garan'') which enshrines the main object of veneration.Kōjien Japanese dictionary Because the various denominations deliberately use different terms, thi ...
''), the lecture hall (''hattō''), and the chief abbot's residence (''hōjō'') all aligned more or less on a north to south axis, with the bath house (''yokushitsu'') and the
sūtra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...
repository (''
kyōzō in Japanese Buddhist architecture is a repository for sūtras and chronicles of the temple history. It is also called , , or . In ancient times the ''kyōzō'' was placed opposite the shōrō, belfry on the east–west axis of the temple. The ea ...
'') to its east, and the monks' hall (''sodō'') to its west. *Use of penetrating tie beams During the Heian period temples were built using only non-penetrating tie beams () made to fit around columns and pillars, then nailed. The ''daibutsuyō'' style and the ''zenshūyō'' style replaced them with penetrating tie-beams (), which actually pierced the column, and were therefore much more effective against earthquakes. The ''nageshi'' was however retained as a purely decorative element. * '' Tokyō'' between posts While other styles put roof-supporting brackets only above columns, Zen temples have them also between columns (see photo above). * ''Tōrihijiki'' Each bracket step has its own , a long horizontal beam parallel to the wall and inserted into the bracket step. (See photo in the gallery.) It strengthens the structure while at the same time supporting the roof rafters. *''Odaruki'' A ''tokyō's'' third step is usually supported by a so-called , a
cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...
set between the second and the third step (see illustration in the gallery). The name refers to its typical shape, similar to a tail protruding from the bracket. *''Kibana'' Another Zenshūyō feature is the or , a nose-like decoration with a spiraling motif carved on a rafter after the last protruding bracket. (See photo in the gallery.) *Fan-shaped roof rafters Roof rafters radiate outwards from a single central point. *Paneled doors Doors called are made of separate panels and do not slide, but are fixed to the tie beams by heavy hinges called . Above the door's panels runs a
transom (architectural) In architecture, a transom is a transverse horizontal structural beam or bar, or a crosspiece separating a door from a window above it. This contrasts with a mullion, a vertical structural member. Transom or transom window is also the customary ...
which admits light through curved openings. *''Sōmon'' and ''sanmon'' The entrance to a Zen temple is straddled by two symbolic gates, the ''
sōmon is the gate at the entrance of a Buddhist temple in Japan.Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version It often precedes the bigger and more important ''sanmon A or is the most important mon of a Japanese Zen Buddhist t ...
'' and the more important
sanmon A or is the most important mon of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, and is part of the Zen '' shichidō garan'', the group of buildings that forms the heart of a Zen Buddhist temple.JAANUS It can be often found in temples of other denominations ...
. *''
Mokoshi In Japanese architecture , literally "skirt storey" or "cuff storey", is a decorative pent roof surrounding a building below the true roof. Since it does not correspond to any internal division, the ''mokoshi'' gives the impression of there bein ...
'' Typical of the style is also the main hall (''
butsuden Main hall or Main Temple is the building within a Japanese Buddhist monastery compound ('' garan'') which enshrines the main object of veneration.Kōjien Japanese dictionary Because the various denominations deliberately use different terms, thi ...
''), which has just one story but seems to have two because of the presence of a roofed corridor called ''
mokoshi In Japanese architecture , literally "skirt storey" or "cuff storey", is a decorative pent roof surrounding a building below the true roof. Since it does not correspond to any internal division, the ''mokoshi'' gives the impression of there bein ...
''. Having the width of one
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
, it makes the three-bay, one-story building look like a two-storey, five-bay building. *Cusped windows Zen temples have typical bell-shaped windows called . Originally the two sides were vertical, but they acquired a slant later on. Their use is now widespread, and they can be found even at
Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...
s and
castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...
. *No pagoda Because of the decline in the use of pagodas, like that of other younger schools the Zen ''garan'' usually does not have a
pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...
.


Gallery

File:Tofukuji-Sanmon-M9589.jpg, Zen ''sanmon'' ( Tōfuku-ji) File:Nanzenji-Katomado.jpg, ''Katōmado'' ( Nanzen-ji) File:Daitokuji tesaki.jpg, Intercolumnar ''tokyō'', each of the three steps having a ''tōrihijiki'' (
Daitoku-ji is a Rinzai school Zen Buddhist temple in the Murasakino neighborhood of Kita-ku in the city of Kyoto Japan. Its ('' sangō'') is . The Daitoku-ji temple complex is one of the largest Zen temples in Kyoto, covering more than . In addition to ...
) File:Engakuji-Gate-M9126.jpg, ''Odaruki'' (
Engaku-ji , or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture to the south of Tokyo. Founded ...
) File:Komyo-ji Kamakura Belltower futatesaki.jpg, ''Kobushibana/kibana'' ( Kōmyo-ji). Click to enlarge and display captions File:Nanzenji-M9658.jpg, ''Sanmon'' ( Nanzen-ji) File:Kenchoji Main Complex.jpg, Linear layout (
Kenchō-ji Kenchō-ji (建長寺) is a Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, which ranks first among Kamakura's so-called Five Great Zen Temples (the ''Kamakura Gozan'') and is the oldest Zen training monastery in Jap ...
) File:Kennin-ji 11.jpg, ''Sankarado'' (
Kennin-ji is a historic Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan, and head temple of its associated branch of Rinzai Buddhism. It is considered to be one of the so-called Kyoto ''Gozan'' or "five most important Zen temples of Kyoto". History Kennin-ji was ...
)


Examples

File:Zenpukuin shakado01s3200.jpg, Zenpuku-in's ''shaka-
Dō may refer to: * Dō (architecture) * Dō (armour) * Dō (martial arts) * Dō (philosophy) The Tao or Dao is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in East Asian philosophy and East Asian religions, religion. This seeing ...
'', built in 1327 File:Anrakuji Hakkakusanjyuunotou BessyoOnsen.jpg, Anraku-ji's
pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...
, built in the 14th century File:Engakuji-Shariden-M9239.jpg,
Engaku-ji , or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture to the south of Tokyo. Founded ...
's ''shariden''


See also

* Japanese Buddhist architecture - Heian period *''
Setchūyō is an architectural style born in Japan during the Muromachi period from the fusion of elements from three different antecedent styles: ''wayō'', ''daibutsuyō'', and ''zenshūyō''. It is exemplified by the Main Hall (Japanese Buddhism), main ...
''


Notes


Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zenshuyo Japanese Buddhist architecture Japanese architectural history Japanese architectural styles