Naijin

What a naijin is

A naijin is the inner sanctuary of a Buddhist hall, the part that holds the principal image. It is paired with the outer area where worshippers stand, and fittings and bracketing mark the boundary between the two.

The main hall of Saifukuji in Shiga Prefecture, built in 1862, is described as divided front to back, the front half forming the outer area and the rear half divided into three along its length to give a sanctuary with side bays to either side. The entry calls this the characteristic plan of a hall of its sect.

The Hontokuji hall in Hyogo Prefecture, built in 1898, is described as combining a front room roofed Irimoya-zukuri and entered from the eaves side with a two-tier pyramidal rear room, and is called a good example of a compound hall with both an outer area and a sanctuary.

Ornament concentrates at the boundary. The main hall of Sorinji in Shiga Prefecture is described as modest in scale but thorough in detail, with bracketing and a curved fascia at that boundary and carving on the Kōryō.

Two ways of closing the rear

How the back of the sanctuary is treated divides into two patterns. The main hall of Tokujuji in Aichi Prefecture, built in 1896, is described as having six rooms in the abbot's-quarters plan with a broad veranda in front, a screen wall behind the Shumidan, a finely subdivided Gō-tenjō above it, and an outer area opened up by omitting the columns between rooms and using bamboo-node Ranma.

The main hall of Shounji in the same prefecture, built in 1934, is described as setting the dais between a pair of Raigō-bashira under the same kind of ceiling. The two halls measure 15.1 by 14.2 metres and share the same plan type; they differ in whether a wall or a pair of columns closes the sanctuary behind the image.

Visitors normally look in from the outer area. Access to the sanctuary is usually restricted, so what can be checked from outside is whether a wall or columns stand behind the dais and whether the ceiling above is coffered.