Hōgyō-zukuri

What hōgyō-zukuri is

Hōgyō-zukuri is a pyramidal roof whose four slopes rise to meet at a single point. Unlike Kirizuma-zukuri or Irimoya-zukuri it has no horizontal ridge at all.

It suits buildings of roughly square plan. One building at Kongobuji in Wakayama Prefecture is recorded as three bays by three, single-tiered, with this roof, a one-bay Kōhai and a Hiwadabuki covering. The two dimensions match because the plan is square.

The Gokurakudo in Ehime Prefecture, built in 1898, is described as a hall of three bays square carrying a roof of this kind, with an unsheltered veranda round all four sides. Plan and roof are named in the same breath.

The main hall of Anrakuji in Kyoto Prefecture, from the later Edo period, is described as a single-tiered hall of this form roofed in formal tiles with a pent skirt, joined behind by a later gabled hall. The skirt is a subsidiary roof running below the main one.

Halls, towers and lanterns

Smaller structures use it freely. The lantern tower at Hashikuraji in Tokushima Prefecture, built in 1884, is described as a two-tier timber lantern on a flared base, with this roof in Sangawara-buki, a curved gable over the north entrance, Kumimono projecting one step at the lower tier with fan-set Taruki, and shaped brackets with closely spaced rafters above.

A building at Higashi Honganji in Kyoto is recorded as Dozo-zukuri, 56.83 square metres over two storeys, with this roof, a canopy under a curved gable to the east, and formal tiling. Storehouses use it as well.

To recognise it, look at the top. Where no horizontal ridge runs across the roof and the slopes converge on one point, this is the form. A finial is usually set at the apex, which makes it easy to pick out from a distance.