Setchūyō

What setchūyō means

Setchūyō is a style of Buddhist temple architecture that keeps the native Wayō style as its base while taking in details of the Zen style and the Daibutsuyō style, both introduced from China in the Kamakura period. It spread from the late Kamakura into the Muromachi period, and many of its leading examples are main halls of temples around the Inland Sea and in the Kinki region.

Borrowed details include heavy through-ties piercing the posts, carved beam ends, panelled doors and paired bearing blocks between bracket sets from the Daibutsuyō; and curved tie beams, stone column bases and cusped windows from the Zen style. The overall composition, plan and basic bracket sets remain wayō, with the newer techniques adopted piece by piece.

Older records call the Zen style karayō, the Chinese style, and the Daibutsuyō tenjikuyō, the Indian style. A National Treasure commentary describing a hall as based on wayō with karayō and tenjikuyō mixed in means that it combines wayō with Zen and Daibutsuyō elements.

Reading the records and the building

Many National Treasure commentaries place main halls within the style. The main hall of Jodoji in Onomichi, Hiroshima, is described as belonging to the so-called eclectic style, based on wayō with karayō and tenjikuyō mixed in, and as representative of such buildings around the Inland Sea. The main hall of Myoo-in in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, built in 1321, is cited as an early example mixing karayō with wayō and a benchmark for dating the mixing of styles. The main hall of Kanshinji in Kawachinagano, Osaka, is described as a leading example, wayō in its main body and three-block brackets but with Daibutsuyō paired blocks between them, stone bases under the canopy posts and curved tie beams inside. The main hall of Kakurinji in Kakogawa, Hyogo, with panelled doors hung on pivot blocks nailed to the ties and paired blocks on frog-leg struts, is said to carry the mixing further than Kanshinji.

On site, first confirm that the overall composition is wayō, then look for elements from other styles: panelled doors, paired bearing blocks between bracket sets, stone column bases and curved tie beams inside.