What a hōjō is
A hōjō is the building in a temple where the abbot lives and receives visitors. The Japanese name refers to a space of about three metres square, though actual buildings are far larger.
It occupies a central position in the precinct. The middle gate at Hashikuraji in Tokushima Prefecture, from the early Meiji period, is described as standing before it on an east-west axis, a single-bay Yakuimon, Kirizuma-zukuri and pantiled, with Sodobei to either side. Setting a gate before it says something about its standing.
The plan settled into six rooms, three in front and three behind, with a Buddhist altar room at the rear centre. The black study at Ninnaji in Kyoto, built in 1910, is described as having that plan with formal fittings in its west inner room, ranged about with Mairado, giving the restrained exterior of an inward-facing Shoin-zukuri building.
Another Japanese word names the abbot's own room. The priests' quarters at Jikoji in Niigata Prefecture, built in 1759, are described as placing that room and a study at the upper end towards the main hall, with a sanctuary, an earthen floor and the monks' offices at the lower end.
The six-room plan elsewhere
The plan spread to worship halls. The main hall of Tokujuji in Aichi Prefecture, built in 1896, is described as having six rooms on this plan with a broad veranda in front, a screen wall and Shumidan in the sanctuary under a finely subdivided Gō-tenjō. The main hall of Shounji in the same prefecture is described the same way.
A worship hall is called by the name of the abbot's building because the arrangement of its rooms derives from it. A plan developed for living quarters was carried over to a hall enshrining an image.
It reached houses too. The Ninnaji study is a temple study built on the plan. Records name the plan type because the use of a building and its plan need not agree.
When writing, distinguish the building from the plan. A record naming the six-room plan is not necessarily describing an abbot's residence.
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties (structures)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/kokuho_bunkazai.html
- National Cultural Properties Database: Hashikuraji middle gate, with a gable strut on a curved beam and a coffered ceiling throughout
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009068
- National Cultural Properties Database: Ninnaji black study, ranged about with battened sliding doors
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009041
- National Cultural Properties Database: Jikoji priests' quarters, abbot's room and study at the upper end, kitchen and monks' offices at the lower
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009140
- National Cultural Properties Database: Tokujuji main hall, with an altar dais before a rear screen wall under a subdivided coffered ceiling
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009292
Last verified: 2026.09.11