Muryoji Temple Priests' Quarters

About Muryoji Temple Priests' Quarters

Muryoji Temple Priests' Quarters (無量寺庫裏, Muryō-ji Kuri) is the Kuri of a Sōtō school Zen temple in Aida, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture; rebuilt with the main hall between 1810 and 1812, it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 10, 2005.

A kuri is the working and living block of a Japanese temple. This one is a single-storey timber building with a partial second floor, roofed with hipped Kayabuki thatch in the Yosemune-zukuri form, now covered in sheet iron. At 337 square meters it is larger than the main hall, which covers 322 square meters, and it is the biggest of the six buildings.

Matsumoto City says it burned in the fire of 1808 and was rebuilt in the same years as the main hall and bell tower.

Why Muryoji Temple Priests' Quarters Was Registered

The building was registered as no. 20-0195, as a model of design. What the Agency for Cultural Affairs stresses is how closely it follows the main hall: the tall frame and the way the outer walls are composed are handled in the same manner in both.

The priests' quarters stand east of the main hall and are joined to it by a corridor with an entrance porch. Built at the same time and to the same design, the two read as a single composition at the heart of the temple.

A Long Plan with an Earthen-Floored Half

The plan of Muryoji Temple Priests' Quarters runs long from north to south. The northern half holds the living rooms, the southern half is an earthen-floored Doma, and part of the building rises to a second floor. The doorway is in the middle of the west side.

Matsumoto City gives the frontage as 7 ken (42 shaku) and the depth as 13 ken (78 shaku), so the building is nearly twice as deep as it is wide, a proportion obvious from outside. The posts stand 17 shaku 5 sun (about 5.3 meters), the square columns are 4 sun 5 bu on a side, and the outer walls are finished in Shikkui lime plaster.

Notice, too, where the entrance porch sits: on the corridor between the main hall and the priests' quarters, so that callers are received between the two.

Visiting Muryoji Temple Priests' Quarters

No published information covers opening the interior of Muryoji Temple Priests' Quarters. Unless you have business with the temple, keep to viewing the exterior.

The best view is from the east side of the main hall, where the corridor, the entrance porch and the long north-south roof of the priests' quarters come into view together. The storehouse adjoins the building on its southeast corner. Directions and contact details are on the Muryoji Temple page.