Toshodaiji Temple Sutra Repository

One Storehouse, National Treasure since 1953

Toshodaiji Temple Sutra Repository (唐招提寺経蔵, Toshodaiji Kyozo) is a Nara-period structure at Gojo-cho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, made an Important Cultural Property on 18 February 1904 and designated a National Treasure on 14 November 1953. The quantity is one building and the owner the temple.

The listing of 18 February 1904 is the second earliest met here, after the Shinra Zenshindo of 27 March 1901.

The building is three bays by three bays, of log construction, with a hipped roof of plain tile. The date field gives a span, 710 to 793, rather than a single year.

A Storehouse Older Than the Temple, Converted

How the building came to be stands at the centre of the commentary.

The Agency records that, although it is a surviving Nara-period log structure, it has been found that a storehouse existing before the temple was founded was converted when the temple's precinct was laid out.

When it was built, it was not a temple building. A storehouse already standing was remade as the temple was put in order.

With the Rishukyo on white-line paper, underdrawings for an abandoned scroll were turned into paper for a sutra. At Zuiryuji, timber removed in repair was made into an incense container.

Those were reuses of material or paper. Here a whole building passed from other hands into a temple.

The temple records that it is said to be a converted rice store from the residence of Prince Niitabe, that it is the oldest building at the temple, and that it is the oldest log storehouse in Japan. That last claim stands in the temple's own record and has not been confirmed in the Agency's.

The Record States When This Was Learned

The commentary adds how the fact came to light.

It was established by close investigation during recent repairs.

Both that the origin was learned through investigation, and that this happened recently, are set down.

At the Ataka and Kurohashi shell mounds, sixty-one years could be read between discovery and excavation. With the Himeji Castle turrets, a cited work closed the commentary.

Those record facts of investigation or of sources. Here the record states when its own content was obtained.

What recently refers to is not given. It is relative to whenever the record was written. This article reproduces it as it stands.

What Stands Now Is a Restored Form

The commentary closes with one further sentence.

The present appearance has been restored to the form given it when the temple was laid out.

An original storehouse, a conversion by the temple, and a restoration to that converted form: three stages.

What can be seen is the shape the temple gave it, brought back. It is not the shape it had as a storehouse.

At the Jodoji pagoda, a railing first set up in 1732 showed that the present form differs from the original. With the Fujinoki finds, a category for reconstructions appeared, made by inferring a lost shape.

Here a whole building has been returned to the form of one particular moment. Which moment to return to has been chosen.

Visiting

The building stands at Gojo-cho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, owned by the temple. It stands in the precinct and its exterior can be seen on a visit.

The temple describes the arrangement: raised log storehouses stand side by side to the east of the worship hall, and the smaller of the two is this one.

Two buildings stand together, and the smaller is this repository. The larger, the temple's treasure house, is recorded separately.

Log construction builds walls by stacking timbers. Related entries include a sutra store at Todaiji.

Access to the interior follows the temple's own arrangements. Check before travelling.