What rokumadori means
Rokumadori is a plan that divides the raised floor of a building into six rooms, three at the front and three at the back. Compared with the four-room plan of two by two, it adds a third row across the width.
In temples it is known as the basic plan of the Zen abbot's hall. The central front room, the shicchū, is used for services and ceremonies, with reception and study rooms, a patron's room and a Buddha room to either side and behind. It is common in the main halls of Zen sub-temples and of schools such as the Sōtō school that took over the abbot's-hall form.
In houses it appears in the main buildings of large farmhouses and old families. With an earth floor on one side and six rooms on the raised floor, such houses often place a reception room with an alcove at the upper end of the front row and a formal entrance, Shikidai, at the centre. It is a plan for houses larger than those with four rooms.
Reading the records and the building
Records describe rokumadori plans, six-room abbot's-hall forms or plans based on rokumadori. The main hall of Jisaiin, a sub-temple of Tenryuji in Kyoto, faces south in the six-room abbot's-hall form, and its three front rooms, including the shicchū, share a continuous batten ceiling. The main hall of Gyokurin-in, a sub-temple of Daitokuji in Kyoto, is an abbot's-hall type in which two rooms were added at the upper end of the usual six-room plan to make eight.
Among houses, the main house of the Saito family in Ina, Saitama, has an earth floor on its south side and six raised rooms, with the inner front room serving as the principal reception room. The main house of the Yashiro family in Kurayoshi, Tottori, has a six-room ground floor with reception rooms facing the garden and a formal entrance at the centre. The main house of the former Ichien family in Taga, Shiga, is recorded with a plan based on rokumadori, its reception rooms set in an L; the qualifier indicates a six-room plan with variations.
On site, check whether the raised rooms stand in two rows of three. Partitions are often altered, so use the record together with the present layout to work out the original plan.
References
- 慈済院本堂｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00011151
- 玉林院本堂｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/db/heritages/detail/174842
- 齋藤家住宅主屋｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013045
- 矢城家住宅主屋｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010881
- 旧一圓家住宅主屋｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010180
Last verified: 2026.09.26