Hozoji Temple Priests' Quarters

What Is Hozoji Temple Priests' Quarters?

Hozoji Temple Priests' Quarters (法蔵寺庫裏, Hōzō-ji Kuri) is a mid-Edo-period Kuri, the combined residence and kitchen of a Buddhist temple, standing at the center of Hozoji in Toyoshina, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture; it was moved here in the Meiji era from the former Anrakuji temple in Iwahara and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) on December 26, 2005.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the mid-Edo period, between 1661 and 1750. It is a two-story wooden building with a tiled roof and a building area of 402 square meters. That makes the Hozoji Priests' Quarters by far the largest of the temple's five registered buildings, more than five times the size of the bell tower gate.

A Kitchen-Residence Rescued from a Closed Temple

According to Azumino City's cultural property plan, the building began life as the priests' quarters of Anrakuji (安楽寺), a temple in the Iwahara district. In the early Meiji era, a government push to separate Shinto from Buddhism set off a wave of attacks on temples known as haibutsu kishaku. When the building was about to be demolished, Ogawa Tameichiro (小川為一郎) of the former town of Hotaka bought it and moved it to his own home. The city says it was moved again, to Hozoji, in 1905. A temple building that survived by passing through a private house before settling at another temple is a concrete trace of how hard that campaign hit the region.

The Agency's database also records two relocations, but dates them to 1871 and 1907. The two sources agree that the building was moved twice, yet they differ by two years on when it reached Hozoji: 1905 according to the city, 1907 according to the Agency. No document was found that settles the question, so both dates are given here.

Why the Hozoji Temple Priests' Quarters Was Registered

It was registered under the criterion of buildings that have become a model for later design. The Agency singles out its large scale and the way it keeps its original form inside and out, calling it a fine example of a temple kuri in this region. Surviving two moves with its form intact is at the heart of that assessment.

The roof is a simple gable (Kirizuma-zukuri), and the entrance is set in the gable end (Tsumairi), which faces north and serves as the front. Lower lean-to roofs (Geya) wrap around all four sides, and the entrance porch carries a curved cusped gable (Noki-karahafu). The eaves project on outrigger beams in the Degeta-zukuri manner.

Most walls leave the timber posts exposed (Shinkabe), but the north and west walls are plastered in white Shikkui all the way up to the underside of the eaves. With the front and west sides sealed in white, the building looks noticeably solid and heavy from the temple grounds.

Seeing the Hozoji Temple Priests' Quarters

Begin in the middle of the grounds, facing the north gable end. The large triangle of the gable sits above the cusped porch, and the lean-to roofs run low around both sides. From here the whole logic of a gable-entry kuri is easy to read.

Then move to the west to see the wall plastered right up to the eaves. The contrast between the post-and-panel walls and the sealed white walls is the main thing to take in on the exterior of the Hozoji Priests' Quarters.

The building is also the resident priest's home, and no interior opening could be confirmed. Do not step into the entrance or peer through windows, and keep photography to the exterior.