A Kitchen and a Lodging Wing Under One Registration
Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace is a combined service and lodging building at a Jodo Shinshu Honganji-ha branch temple in Yokkaichi, Usa City, Oita Prefecture, built in the Taisho era between 1912 and 1926, extended in the early Showa era between 1926 and 1945, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2016.
It joins the audience hall on its north side. The structure is timber, two storeys with a single-storey portion, and covers 530 square metres, making it the third largest in the precinct after the main hall and the assembly hall. Two parts of quite different character are treated here as one listed building.
The priests' quarters run east to west under a hip-and-gable roof of two storeys, with a gabled entrance opening to the south. Seen from that side, this porch is the front of Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace.
Earth Floor, Meeting Room, Buddha Room
The eastern end of the quarters is an earth-floored service area, the kitchen, left unboarded on the ground itself. To the west, a room of 28 mats used by the clergy for gathering connects to a 15-mat room to form a single large space.
That 15-mat room is recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database under a local name, Onaibutsunoma, meaning the room where the Buddha is enshrined. So within one building the working kitchen sits alongside the space for gathering and the space for ritual, in that order from east to west. The plan is a fair summary of what a Shinshu temple's service wing actually was.
The listing criterion is contribution to the historic landscape.
An Unusual Kind of Wing
West of the quarters comes the Long Palace. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, it was built to accommodate the petitioning activity of subordinate temples: representatives came in from affiliated temples across Kyushu and stayed while they made their case to the branch temple. Two rooms on either side of a central corridor housed them.
It is neither a pilgrims' lodge nor part of the kitchen wing, and free-standing survivals built for this purpose are not common. That people travelled from temples across the island to a place once called the Kyushu Gobo is preserved in this floor plan. The two parts of Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace are registered as one item because they worked as one.
From outside, follow the run of the ridge from east to west. Where the two-storey quarters give way to the Long Palace, the height and pitch of the roof change, and that is the seam.
Visiting Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace
Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace remains the living and working part of the temple, and the interior is closed. The earth floor, the meeting room, the Onaibutsunoma and the rooms of the Long Palace are all off limits.
The exterior can be seen from within the precinct. The gabled porch on the south face is the thing to look at, and walking round to the north of the audience hall reveals the full length of the range. Photography outside is unrestricted, but this is a working part of the compound, so keep out of the way of temple staff.
Visiting conditions and directions for the precinct are set out on the Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin page.
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Questions and Answers
- What is Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace?
- A single 530-square-metre building combining the temple's kitchen and living quarters with a wing built to house representatives of subordinate temples.
- When was Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace built?
- In the Taisho era, between 1912 and 1926, with an extension added in the early Showa era between 1926 and 1945.
- How is the Long Palace laid out?
- It continues west from the quarters of Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace, with two rooms on either side of a central corridor, built for visiting representatives of subordinate temples.
- What is the Onaibutsunoma?
- A 15-mat room in the quarters of Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace. The local name means the room where the Buddha is enshrined, and it opens into the 28-mat meeting room.
- Can the interior of Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace be seen?
- No. It is in daily use by the temple. The exterior can be viewed from within the precinct.
Basic Information
| Name | Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace |
|---|---|
| Location | 1410-1 Yokkaichi, Usa City, Oita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 25 February 2016 (Heisei 28) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Floor area 530 square metres; a 28-mat meeting room and a 15-mat Onaibutsunoma |
| Owner | Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin (religious corporation) |
| Public Access | Interior closed; exterior viewable from the precinct |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin Priests' Quarters and Long Palace
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011019
- Usa City: List of Designated and Registered Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.usa.oita.jp/sougo/soshiki/18/shakaikyoiku/3/bunkazai/2149.html
- Usa City: Higashi and Nishi Honganji Yokkaichi Betsuin
- https://www.city.usa.oita.jp/tourist/touristspot/touristspot2/touristspot3/10183.html
- Oita Prefecture: List of Nationally Designated and Selected Cultural Properties
- https://www.pref.oita.jp/kyoiku/tmp/bunka/post-101/1.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.13
