Zuiganji Temple Main Hall (former Abbot's Chamber)

Raised in 1609, National Treasure since 1953

Zuiganji Temple Main Hall (former Abbot's Chamber) (瑞巖寺本堂（元方丈）, Zuiganji Hondo) stands at Matsushima, Matsushima Town, Miyagi County, Miyagi Prefecture, designated a National Treasure on 31 March 1953. It had become an Important Cultural Property on 7 April 1900. The quantity is one building and the owner is Zuiganji.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the period as Momoyama, 1609. Its commentary records that in 1604, in the ninth year of Keicho, Date Masamune renamed the temple Enpukuji as Zuiganji and undertook its restoration himself, and that the abbot's chamber built then, the present main hall, had its ridge raised in the third month of 1609.

The form is thirteen bays along, eight bays deep on the right side and eight on the left, single storey, hip-and-gable roof, heavy tile, with an entrance attached. The depth is recorded for each side separately.

Plain Without, Splendid Within

The core of the prefectural account is the contrast between exterior and interior.

The exterior follows plain Japanese methods, while the carving, coloring, metalwork, sliding-door paintings and applied paintings within present the splendour of Momoyama architecture.

Plain from outside, splendid within. The Agency likewise records that the detailing of the mouldings, the transoms and the carving of the doors show the character of Momoyama building well.

The Yakushido at Mutsu Kokubunji, also in Miyagi, carries the same structure, its gable ends in bare timber and its inner shrine richly ornamented. Both are buildings in which Date Masamune had a hand, and both divide the treatment of outside and in the same way.

The Agency writes that together with the shrine buildings at Osaki Hachiman it shows what remains of Date culture in the northeast and is of the deepest significance in cultural history. It is placed alongside another building rather than judged alone.

Ten Rooms, Each with Its Own Name

Miyagi Prefecture sets out the plan in detail.

The main hall is in the study style, under a vast hip-and-gable roof of heavy tile, with upper and lower verandas running round the south, north and east sides, and is divided into ten rooms with the buddha room at the centre of the back.

Before the buddha room lies the central room, called the peacock room; to its left the upper and uppermost rooms; to its right the waiting room, called the arhat room, and the ink-painting room. Beyond the central room lie the King Wen room to the left and the hawk, chrysanthemum and pine rooms to the right.

The rooms are named after the subjects of their paintings. Peacock, arhat, ink painting, King Wen, hawk, chrysanthemum, pine: each name comes from what covers its sliding doors and panels.

That the exterior is plain and the room names come from paintings fits together. The ornament lies inside, and the names of the rooms come from there too.

What the Ceremonial Entrance Is

Miyagi Prefecture records that the complex comprises the main hall, the kitchen quarters and the ceremonial entrance. Entering the courtyard through the middle gate, the main hall stands ahead, the kitchen quarters and corridor to the right, and the ceremonial entrance to the left.

Before the ceremonial entrance stands its own gate, and that gate and the middle gate are joined by a wall known as the drum wall.

Of the entrance the prefecture writes: a stone paving turns and leads to the main hall, and although the form resembles that of a warrior house gate, the absence of a boarded floor suggests rather that it carries on the form of an entrance to an abbot's chamber. It is built in bare timber in the Zen manner.

The judgment is that it resembles one thing but belongs to another. The shape recalls a warrior gate, yet a single feature, the lack of a boarded floor, places it in the line of abbot's-chamber entrances.

The kitchen quarters and corridor are treated as a separate property. Main hall and kitchen quarters are used together but designated apart.

Visiting

Miyagi Prefecture gives visiting hours by season: from April to September, 8 am to 5 pm; in March and October, 8 am to 4.30 pm; in February and November, 8 am to 4 pm; in January and December, 8 am to 3.30 pm.

Four bands through the year. In winter the day closes at 3.30 pm, the light going early.

Hours may change, so check the temple's information before travelling. What repays a visit is the painting inside, so go while the hall can be entered.

From Matsushima-Kaigan Station on the JR Senseki Line it is five minutes on foot; from Matsushima Station on the JR Tohoku Main Line, twenty.