Kanchiin Guest Hall

A Monk's Residence at Toji

The Kanchiin Guest Hall (観智院客殿) is the reception hall of Kanchiin, a sub-temple of Toji (Kyoogokokuji) in Minami Ward, Kyoto, built in 1605, designated an Important Cultural Property on April 17, 1914, and a National Treasure on June 27, 1959. The Agency for Cultural Affairs values it as showing the ordinary residential style of the Momoyama period and, at the same time, the private quarters of a Buddhist priest.

The Agency records the hall as 12.7 metres by 13.7 metres, single-storey, hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) with its entrance on the gable end and a cusped karahafu on the front eaves, together with a one-bay gabled middle gate, all roofed in copper sheet. It is owned by Kanchiin.

A Seminary of Shingon Buddhism

According to Toji, Kanchiin is the seminary of the Shingon school, founded around 1359 by the monk Goho. The Esoteric scriptures gathered by Goho and his disciple Kenpo number more than 15,000 items. In the Edo period, as a black-seal letter of Tokugawa Ieyasu records, it was known as the seminary of the whole Shingon school (Toji).

The present hall was rebuilt at the start of the Edo period by Ryosei, the tenth abbot (Toji).

Why It Was Designated

The Kanchiin Guest Hall was designated a National Treasure in 1959. The Agency for Cultural Affairs ranks it with the guest halls of Kojoin and Kangakuin in Shiga Prefecture, both National Treasures, as examples of the ordinary residential style of the Momoyama period.

Toji notes that it keeps medieval features such as a carriage porch with a cusped gable and an oshiita-style alcove, while setting column spacing by tatami modules, showing the shift towards the early modern shoin style.

What to Look For

At the front of the Kanchiin Guest Hall is a carriage porch with a karahafu on its eaves (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Toji); the curved gable marks the entrance of the gable-fronted hall.

According to Toji, the interior comprises the raised room, the next room, the Rajo room, the dark room and the messengers' room, and the raised room has paintings of an eagle and of a bamboo grove by Miyamoto Musashi.

Visiting the Kanchiin Guest Hall

According to Toji, Kanchiin is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with last entry at 4:30 p.m. Admission is 600 yen for an adult, and combined tickets with the Kondo and Kodo halls are available. Prices vary by season, so check Toji's admission page.