Shumidan

What a shumidan is

A shumidan is the raised dais in the inner sanctuary of a Buddhist hall on which the principal image stands. The name comes from the mountain at the centre of the world in Buddhist cosmology, and the dais occupies the corresponding position inside the building.

Descriptions in the National Cultural Properties Database bring it up when explaining how a sanctuary is arranged. 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 across the front, and an inner sanctuary where the dais stands before a screen wall under a finely subdivided Gō-tenjō.

The main hall of Shounji in the same prefecture, built in 1934, is described as setting the dais between a pair of rear columns, again under a subdivided coffered ceiling. Whether the sanctuary uses a wall or a pair of columns behind the image changes the arrangement around the dais.

Zen meditation halls have them too. The meditation hall at Jikoji in Niigata Prefecture is described as arranging the seating platforms around a central dais, with quarters for the monks in the other half of the building.

Where it sits, and what you can see

A Buddhist hall divides between the outer area where worshippers stand and the inner sanctuary that holds the image. The dais belongs to the sanctuary, and where a ceiling is fitted above it the choice usually falls on the most formal type available. Both Tokujuji and Shounji use a subdivided coffered ceiling over theirs.

Access to the sanctuary is often restricted, so the dais is normally seen from the outer area. Attention tends to go to the image and its canopy rather than to the platform beneath, though the height and width of the platform are recorded because they indicate the standing of the hall.

One variant spelling of the Japanese term is in circulation. The records of the Agency for Cultural Affairs use the standard form.