The living wing of 1843
Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters (龍泉寺庫裏, Ryūsenji Kuri) is a temple residence and kitchen building in the Idezawa district of Shinshiro City, Aichi Prefecture, built in 1843 and entered on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 24 December 2013. A kuri is where the community of a Japanese temple actually lives, cooks and receives callers, and this one stands east of the main hall with its ridge running north to south. It was refurbished in 2007.
The roof is a plain gable, Kirizuma-zukuri, laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles. Walls use the Shinkabe method, Shikkui plaster held between posts and beams that stay visible. The building is mostly single-storey with a partial upper floor and covers 148 square metres, the largest floor area among the five registered structures at Ryūsenji.
The date is not an estimate. A Munafuda ridge tablet fixes it at 1843, twenty-three years after the main hall was completed and close to the end of the Edo period.
A provincial Zen kitchen, recorded
Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters carries registration number 23-0388, listed under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. It is registered under the Registered Tangible Cultural Property scheme of 1996 rather than designated as a National Treasure or Important Cultural Property, which is a different legal route entirely.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives two reasons for the listing. The building holds down one corner of the temple's architectural composition, and it survives as an example of how the kuri of a provincial Zen temple was planned at the end of the Edo period. The interest lies in ordinary life rather than in ceremony.
Four other buildings at the temple were registered on the same day: the main hall, the founder's hall and memorial tablet hall, the Kannon hall and tea hall, and the bell tower. Of the five, only Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters records the domestic side of the place.
A great pillar dividing rooms from range
Between the main hall and the kuri sit a south-facing entrance and two rooms, which is how the two buildings are joined. Inside the kuri, a thick daikoku-bashira, the great central pillar that carries the frame, stands at the middle of the plan, and the building changes character on either side of it. North of the pillar are four rooms; counting the pair by the entrance, Shinshiro City records six tatami rooms in all.
The south half was once Doma, a floor of packed earth, and now holds the kitchen range and its fittings. Boards have been laid there and the kitchen reads as a separate room, but the shape of the plan and the profile of the ceiling still show that it was carved out of the earth-floored zone. Being able to see the earlier arrangement through the later one is the reason to look closely.
There is no carving here and no gilding. The kuri is the back of house. Yet the girth of that central pillar and the height of the ceiling over the old earth floor say plainly what the building was for: cooking, storing, receiving parishioners, day after day for well over a century.
Planning a visit
Part of Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters is still lived in, and the building remains the temple's working office. No opening hours or admission fee have been published as of September 2026. The exterior can be seen from the grounds, but visitors should assume the interior is closed; anyone hoping to look inside or take photographs needs to arrange it with the temple in advance.
Ōmi Station on the JR Iida Line is the nearest railway stop, about 2.7 kilometres to the southeast and roughly 35 minutes on foot. Trains run infrequently on this stretch of the line, so check times first. By car, allow about 10 minutes from the Shinshiro interchange on the Shin-Tōmei Expressway, some 7 kilometres away.
Enquiries about the registered buildings can go to the History and Culture Division of the Shinshiro City Board of Education on 0536-23-7610.
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Q&A
- When were Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters built?
- In 1843, a date confirmed by a ridge tablet. The building was refurbished in 2007 and entered on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 24 December 2013, under number 23-0388.
- What is a kuri, and what is inside Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters?
- A kuri is the kitchen and residence of a Buddhist temple. Here, four rooms lie north of the great central pillar, and the south half, formerly an earth-floored area, now contains the kitchen range.
- Can visitors go inside Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters?
- Assume not. Part of the building is a private residence, and no opening hours or admission fee have been published as of September 2026. Contact the temple in advance if you wish to see or photograph the interior.
- Are Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters connected to the main hall?
- Yes. The building stands east of the main hall with its ridge running north to south, and the two are linked through a south-facing entrance and two rooms placed between them.
- How do I reach Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters?
- Walk about 2.7 kilometres northwest from Ōmi Station on the JR Iida Line, roughly 35 minutes. By car it is about 7 kilometres, or 10 minutes, from the Shinshiro interchange on the Shin-Tōmei Expressway.
Basic Information
| Name | Ryusenji Temple Priests' Quarters |
|---|---|
| Location | Matoba-da 30-31 merged area 1, Idezawa, Shinshiro City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 24 December 2013 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 148 square metres; timber, single-storey with a partial upper floor |
| Owner | Ryusenji, religious corporation |
| Public Access | No published opening hours or admission fee; interior not open to the public |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Ryusenji Priests' Quarters (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009767
- Ryusenji Main Hall and other buildings (Shinshiro City)
- https://www.city.shinshiro.lg.jp/kanko/minzokugeino/ryusenji.html
- List of nationally registered cultural properties (Shinshiro City)
- https://www.city.shinshiro.lg.jp/kanko/bunkazai/kunitoroku.html
Last verified: 2026.09.03