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Religious architecture

Main articles: Japanese Buddhist architecture and Shinto architecture

Religious architecture in Japan is represented almost exclusively by Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Buddhist temples exist side to side with Shinto shrines, and both share the basic features of Japanese traditional architecture. Not only can torii, the gates usually associated only with Shinto, be found at both, but the entrance to a shrine can be marked by a rōmon, a gate which is Buddhist in origin and can therefore very often be seen also at temples. Some shrines, for example Tanzan Jinja in Nara, even have a pagoda.

The reason for the great structural resemblances between the two lies in their common history. It is in fact normal for a temple to have been also a shrine, and in architectural terms, obvious differences between the two are therefore few, so much so that often only a specialist can see them.

Shrines enshrining local kami existed long before the arrival of Buddhism, but they consisted either of demarcated land areas without any building or of temporary shrines, erected when needed. With the arrival of Buddhism in Japan in the 8th century, shrines were subjected to its influence and adopted both the concept of permanent structures and the architecture of Buddhist temples.

A Buddhist-style gate (karamon) at Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū

The successive development of shinbutsu shūgō (syncretism of Buddhism and kami worship) and of the honji suijaku theory brought to the almost complete fusion of kami worship and Buddhism. It became normal for shrines to be accompanied by temples in mixed complexes called jingūji (神宮寺, lit. shrine temple) or miyadera (宮寺, lit. shrine temple). The opposite was also common: most temples had at least a small shrine dedicated to its tutelary kami, and were therefore called jisha (寺社, temple shrines). The Meiji era's eliminated most jingūji, but left jisha intact, so much so that even today most temples have at least one, sometimes very large, shrine on their premises and Buddhist goddess Benzaiten is often worshiped at Shinto shrines.

As a consequence, for centuries shrines and temples had a symbiotic relationship where each influenced the other. Shrines took from Buddhism its gates (Mon, the use of a hall for lay worshipers (heiden), the use of vermillion-colored wood and more, while Chinese Buddhist architecture was adapted to Japanese tastes with more asymmetrical layouts, greater use of natural materials, and an adaptation of the monastery to the pre-existing natural environment.

The separation between Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, which today is the norm, emerges only as a result of the shinbutsu bunri ("separation of kami and Buddhas") law of 1868. This separation was mandated by law, and many shrine-temples were forced to become just shrines, among them famous ones like Usa Hachiman-gū and Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū.

Religious architecture before the arrival of Buddhism

In the Yayoi period the Japanese did not have the notion of anthropomorphic deities, and felt the presence of spirits called kami in nature and its phenomena. Yayoi period village council sessions were held in a quiet spot in the mountains or in a forest near a great tree or other natural object that served as a yorishiro. These sacred places and their yorishiro gradually evolved into today's shrines, whose origins can be still seen in the Japanese words for "mountain" and "forest", which can also mean "shrine". The very first buildings at places dedicated to worship were surely huts built to house sacred objects.

Real shrines were born with the beginning of agriculture, when for the first time the need arose to draw a kami to a particular place at a particular time, to ensure good harvests. These were however just temporary structures built for a specific purpose, a tradition of which we find traces in some rituals still performed today.　

The arrival of Buddhism changed the situation, introducing to Japan the concept of a permanent shrine. A great number of Buddhist temples were built next to existing shrines in mixed complexes called jingū-ji. The founding of a temple was usually done to help priests deal with some angry local kami already worshiped in a shrine, making the resulting mixed complex permanent.

Once the first permanent shrines were built, Shinto revealed a strong tendency to resist architectural change, a tendency which manifested itself in the so-called Shikinen sengū-sai (式年遷宮祭), the tradition of rebuilding shrines faithfully at regular intervals adhering strictly to their original design. This custom is the reason ancient styles have been replicated through the centuries to the present day, remaining more or less intact. Ise Shrine, still rebuilt every 20 years, is its best extant example. The tradition of rebuilding shrines or temples is present in other religions, but in Shinto it has played a particularly significant role in preserving ancient architectural styles. Izumo Taisha, Sumiyoshi Taisha and Nishina Shinmei Shrine in fact represent three styles whose origin is believed to predate Buddhism, a religion which arrived in Japan around the beginning of the sixth century. Three important forms of ancient shrine architectural styles exist: taisha-zukuri, shinmei-zukuri and sumiyoshi-zukuri They are exemplified by Izumo Taisha, Nishina Shinmei Shrine and Sumiyoshi Taisha respectively and date to before 552.

Shinmei-zukuri

A building at Ise Shrine

Main article: Shinmei-zukuri

Shinmei-zukuri (神明造) is the architectural style typical of Ise Grand Shrine's honden, the holiest of Shinto shrines. It is most common in Mie prefecture. It is characterized by an extreme simplicity, a characteristic highly praised by German architect Bruno Taut. Its basic features can be seen in Japanese architecture from the Kofun period (250–538 C.E.) onwards and it is considered the pinnacle of Japanese traditional architecture. Built in planed, unfinished wood, the honden is either 3x2 ken or 1x1ken in size, has a raised floor, a gabled roof with the entrance on one of the non-gabled sides (hirairi-zukuri (平入造)), no upward curve at the eaves, and purely decorative logs called chigi (vertical) and katsuogi (horizontal) protruding from the roof's ridge.

Because shrines used to be rebuilt every 20 years, as Ise Shrine still is, shrines of this type are mostly of recent construction. The oldest extant example is Nishina Shinmei Shrine, which gives the name to the style.

Taisha-zukuri

Main article: Taisha-zukuri

Izumo Taisha's honden

Taisha-zukuri or Ōyashiro-zukuri (大社造) is the oldest Shinto shrine style. Named after Izumo Taisha's honden, like the shinmei-zukuri style it features a bark roof decorated with poles called chigi and katsuogi, plus archaic features like gable-end pillars and a single central pillar (shin no mihashira). The honden's floor is raised above the ground through the use of stilts (see photo).

Izumo Taisha's honden over time has gone through profound changes that have greatly decreased its size and changed its structure. In its present form, it is a gabled building 2x2 ken in size, with an entrance on the gabled end (a characteristic called tsumairi-zukuri (妻入造). Like Ise Grand Shrine's, it has purely ornamental poles called chigi (vertical) and katsuogi (horizontal) on a cypress bark-covered roof, plus archaic features like gable-end pillars and a single central pillar (shin no mihashira (心の御柱)). This pillar has a diameter of 10.9 cm, has no obvious structural role and is believed to have had a purely religious significance. The external stairway is covered by an independent bark-covered roof.

Because its floor is raised above the ground, the honden is believed to have its origin in raised-floor granaries like those found in Toro, Shizuoka prefecture.

Sumiyoshi-zukuri

Sumiyoshi Taisha's Funatama Jinja

Main article: Sumiyoshi-zukuri

Sumiyoshi-zukuri (住吉造) its name from Sumiyoshi Taisha's honden in Ōsaka.

The honden on the grounds at Sumiyoshi Taisha has been designated as a national treasure on the grounds that it is the oldest example of this style of architecture. The four identical honden buildings that compose it are 4 ken wide and 2 ken deep and have an entrance under one of the gables (a characteristic called tsumairi-zukuri (妻入造). The roof is simple, doesn't curve upwards at the eaves and is decorated with purely ornamental poles called chigi (vertical) and katsuogi (horizontal). The building is surrounded by a fence called mizugaki, in its turn surrounded by another called tamagaki. There is no veranda, and a short stairway leads to the door.

The interior is divided in two sections, one at the front (gejin (外陣)) and one at the back (naijin (内陣)) with a single entrance at the front (see floor plan in the gallery). The structure is simple, but brightly colored: supporting pillars are painted in vermilion and walls in white.

This style is supposed to have its origin in old palace architecture Another example of this style is Sumiyoshi Jinja, part of the Sumiyoshi Sanjin complex in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Asuka and Nara architecture

The most significant contributor to architectural changes during the Asuka period was the introduction of Buddhism. Buddhism is not a Japanese native religion, and its architecture arrived from the continent via Korea together with the first Buddhists in the 6th century. Officially adopted in the wake of the Battle of Shigisan in 587, after that date Buddhist temples began to be constructed. Because of the hostility of supporters of local kami beliefs towards Buddhism, no temple of that period survives, so we don't know what they were like. The oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world are found at Hōryū-ji, to the southwest of Nara. During this period, temple layout was strictly prescribed and followed mainland styles, with a main gate facing south and the most sacred area surrounded by a semi-enclosed roofed corridor (kairō) accessible through a middle gate (chūmon). The sacred precinct contained a pagoda, which acted as a reliquary for sacred objects, and a main hall (kon-dō). The complex might have other structures such as a lecture hall (kō-dō), a belfry (shōrō), a sūtra repository (kyōzō), priests' and monks' quarters and bathhouses. The ideal temple had a heart formed by seven structures called shichidō garan, or "seven hall temple". Buddhism, and the construction of temples, spread from the capital to outlying areas in the Hakuhō period from 645 to 710. In addition, many temples were built in locations favored by the precepts of Chinese geomancy. The arrangements not only of the buildings, groups of trees and ponds of the compound, but also of mountains and other geographic features in particular directions around the temple played important roles as well.

Chinese numerology also played an important role. According to the Yin-Yang school, which started in about 305 BC, Yang stood for the sun, warmth, maleness and odd numbers, while Yin stood for their opposites. In groups of buildings, therefore, halls occurred in odd numbers because halls themselves were believed to be Yang. Being Yang, odd numbers in general are considered positive and lucky, and Buddhism shows a preference for odd numbers. In the case of storied pagodas, either in stone or wood, the number of stories is almost always odd. Practically all wooden pagodas have either three or five-stories. Buildings measure some odd number of ken.

Unlike early kami worship shrines, early Buddhist temples were highly ornamental and strictly symmetrical (see reconstruction of Asuka-dera above). Starting with Hōryū-ji in the late 7th century, temples began to move towards irregular ground plans that resulted in an asymmetric arrangement of buildings, greater use of natural materials such as cypress bark instead of roof tiling, and an increased awareness of natural environment with the placement of buildings among trees. This adaptation was assisted by the syncretism of kami and Buddhism, which through Japanese traditional nature worship gave Buddhism a greater attention to natural surroundings.

Heian period

The early Heian period (9th–10th century) saw an evolution of styles based on the esoteric sects Tendai and Shingon. These two sects followed faithfully the Nanto Rokushū architectonic tradition in the plains, but in mountainous areas developed an original style. This development was facilitated by the syncretic fusion of foreign Buddhism with local mountain worship cults. Called wayō (和様, Japanese style) to distinguish it from Chinese styles imported later, it was characterized by simplicity, refrain for ornamentation, use of natural timber and in general plain materials. Structurally, it was distinguished by a main hall divided in two parts an outer area for novices and an inner area for initiates; a hip-and-gable roof covering both areas; a raised wooden floor instead of the tile or stone floors of earlier temples; extended eaves to cover the front steps; shingles or bark rather than tile roofing; and a disposition of the garan adapting to the natural environment, and not following the traditional symmetrical layouts. The tahōtō, a two-storied tower with some resemblance to Indian stupas, was also introduced by these sects during this period. According to an ancient Buddhist prophecy, the world would enter a dark period called Mappō in 1051. During this period the Tendai sect believed that enlightenment was possible only through the veneration of Amida Buddha. Consequently, many so-called Paradise (or Amida) Halls — such as the Phoenix Hall at Byōdō-in (1053), the Main Hall of Jōruri-ji (1157) and the Golden Hall at Chūson-ji (1124) — were built by the Imperial Family or members of the aristocracy to recreate the western paradise of Amida on earth. Amida Halls that enshrined the nine statues of Amida were popular during the 12th century (late Heian period). The Main Hall of Jōruri-ji is however the only example of such a hall still extant.

Kamakura and Muromachi period

During the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and the following Muromachi period (1336–1573), Japanese architecture made technological advances that made it somewhat diverge from its Chinese counterpart. In response to native requirements such as earthquake resistance and shelter against heavy rainfall and the summer heat and sun, the master carpenters of this time responded with a unique type of architecture, creating the Daibutsuyō and Zenshūyō styles.

The Kamakura period began with the transfer of power in Japan from the imperial court to the Kamakura shogunate. During the Genpei War (1180–1185), many traditional buildings in Nara and Kyoto were damaged. For example, Kōfuku-ji and Tōdai-ji were burned down by Taira no Shigehira of the Taira clan in 1180. Many of these temples and shrines were later rebuilt by the Kamakura shogunate to consolidate the shogun's authority.

Although less elaborate than during the Heian period, architecture in the Kamakura period was informed by a simplicity due to its association with the military order. New residences used a buke-zukuri style that was associated with buildings surrounded by narrow moats or stockades. Defense became a priority, with buildings grouped under a single roof rather than around a garden. The gardens of the Heian period houses often became training grounds.

After the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, the Ashikaga shogunate was formed, having later its seat in the Kyoto district of Muromachi. The proximity of the shogunate to the imperial court led to a rivalry in the upper levels of society which caused tendencies toward luxurious goods and lifestyles. Aristocratic houses were adapted from the simple buke-zukuri style to resemble the earlier shinden-sukuri style. A good example of this ostentatious architecture is the Kinkaku-ji in Kyōto, which is decorated with lacquer and gold leaf, in contrast to its otherwise simple structure and plain bark roofs.

In an attempt to rein in the excess of the upper classes, the Zen masters introduced the tea ceremony. In architecture this promoted the design of chashitsu (tea houses) to a modest size with simple detailing and materials. The style informed residential architecture with lighter, more intimate buildings relying on slender rafters and pillars with sliding inner partitions fusuma and outer sliding walls shōji. Although woven grass and straw tatami mats first began to appear in the Kamakura period, they were often thrown all over the floor. In the Muromachi period they began to have a regular size and be closely fitted together. A typically sized Chashitsu is 4 1/2 mats in size.

In the garden, Zen principles replaced water with sand or gravel to produce the dry garden (karesansui) like the one at Ryōan-ji.

• 
  Jōdodō of Jōdo-ji, Ono, Hyōgo
  Built in 1194
• 
  Danjogaran Fudo-dō in Mt. Kōya, Wakayama
  Built in 1197.
• 
  Sanjūsangen-dō, Kyoto
  Built in 1266
• 
  Butsuden of Kōzan-ji, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
  Built in 1320
• 
  Shōfuku-ji, Tokyo, Completed in 1407
• 
  Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto
  Built in the 15th century
• 
  Pagoda of Negoro-ji in Iwade, Wakayama
  Built in 1547.
• 
  Ryōan-ji dry garden in Kyoto
• 
  Garden of Tenryū-ji in Kyoto

Shinbutsu bunri and haibutsu kishaku

Although the government's edicts didn't explicitly order the closing of temples, the destruction of Buddhist property and the defrocking of Buddhist priests and nuns, they were often interpreted as implying it, and the haibutsu kishaku movement soon spread to the entire country with catastrophic consequences. A substantial part of the population that had felt financially exploited by the danka system (檀家制度, danka seido) participated in the movement. This system, made mandatory by the Tokugawa in order to halt the spread of Christianity, obliged all families to be affiliated to and support a Buddhist temple.

The shinbutsu bunri policy was itself the direct cause of serious damage to important cultural properties. Because mixing the two religions was now forbidden, shrines and temples had to give away some of their treasures, thus damaging the integrity of their cultural heritage and decreasing the historical and economic value of their properties. For example, Kamakura's Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's giant Niō (仁王) (the two wooden wardens usually found at the sides of a temple's entrance), being objects of Buddhist worship and therefore illegal where they were, were sold to Jufuku-ji, where they still are. The shrine also had to destroy Buddhism-related buildings, for example its tahōtō tower, its midō (御堂), and its shichidō garan (伽藍). Many Buddhist temples were simply closed, like Zenkō-ji, to which the now-independent Meigetsu-in used to belong.

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