Enpukuji Temple Main Hall

A Hall Dated by Ink on Its Altar Wall

Enpukuji Temple Main Hall (圓福寺本堂, Enpuku-ji Hondō) is an early Muromachi-period Buddhist hall at Enpukuji Temple in Arisato-cho, Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture, built in 1371 and designated an Important Cultural Property in 1922. It houses the temple's principal image, a seated Amida Buddha.

The national record gives it as 3 bays by 3 bays, single storey, with a hip-and-gable (irimoya) roof of full clay tiles (hongawara) and a 1-bay porch; Ikoma City adds a lean-to at the rear. A veranda runs around the three-bay-square hall, and every bay of the front is fitted with shitomido shutters.

The date comes from an ink inscription on the back of the frame of the raigō wall, the panel behind the altar. Ikoma City reads it as the 25th day of the intercalary third month of Ōan 4, which is 1371.

Old Parts Kept as Evidence

The designation of Enpukuji Temple Main Hall covers six groups of attachments besides the building: 1 ridge tablet, 1 former frame of the raigō wall, 1 former floorboard, 1 fragment of former roof sheathing, 2 former ridge-end tiles (onigawara) and 2 former round tiles. Items labelled "former" appear to be old members removed during repairs, kept with the hall as evidence of its age and of the changes it has undergone.

The inscription that dates the hall most likely belongs to that former wall frame. Keeping removed parts rather than discarding them, and designating them alongside the building, preserves the history of the repairs themselves. The hall was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1922 together with these attachments.

Some tourist guides describe the hall as a Kamakura-period rebuilding. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Muromachi period, 1371, and with an ink inscription as direct evidence, this article follows the Agency.

Inside and Out

Ikoma City describes the interior of Enpukuji Temple Main Hall: raigō pillars stand before a wall painted with the Twelve Devas, with the altar platform in front, and the central ceiling is a fine coffered grid. The whole is worked in the native wayō manner. The Twelve Devas are guardian deities of esoteric Buddhism who protect the directions, heaven and earth, and sun and moon.

From outside, focus on the row of shitomido across the front. These lattice shutters are split into upper and lower leaves, and the upper leaf swings up and outward to open. They come from Heian-period domestic architecture, and filling the whole facade with them gives the hall a gentle, house-like face.

In the grounds stand two late Kamakura hōkyōin pagodas. The dated one, from 1293, is some 80 years older than the hall of 1371, so stone and timber from different eras can be compared a few steps apart.

Seeing It in Person

The grounds of Enpukuji Temple are open for free, and the exterior of Enpukuji Temple Main Hall can be seen at any time. No published information covers access to the interior or the Twelve Devas painting, so contact the temple in advance if you hope to see inside. Directions are on the Enpukuji Temple page.