Myojuji Temple Sutra Repository

The Oldest Building at Myojuji

The Myojuji Temple Sutra Repository (妙壽寺経蔵) is a sutra repository of the mid-Edo period (early 18th century) in Kanaya-machi, Bungotakada City, Oita Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 27, 2018 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey building in plastered storehouse construction with a tiled roof, a building area of 51 square metres and a revolving sutra case; registration number 44-226.

A Plastered Hall Around a Revolving Case

The Myojuji Temple Sutra Repository stands south of the main hall, facing east (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is three bays square, built in dozo-zukuri, the thick-walled plastered construction of Japanese storehouses, with a one-bay porch at the front and a pyramidal roof. Even the posts and head-height tie beams of the outer walls are modelled in plaster, which runs right up to the eaves.

Inside, the floor is paved with tiles and the coffered ceiling carries paintings (Agency for Cultural Affairs). At the centre stands an octagonal rinzo, a revolving bookcase that holds the Buddhist scriptures. Bungotakada City considers the repository the oldest building at Myojuji.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered it as a model of design for its distinctive exterior, with cusped katomado windows in the two side bays of the front and arabesque kote-e, relief work in plaster, along the eave purlin.

Bungotakada City adds that traces of red ochre, white shell pigment and a blue pigment survive on the entrance posts and the porch posts, so the repository was probably painted when it was new, and it calls the roof ornaments and the plaster relief on the walls exceptionally fine.

What to Look For

From the front, look for the two cusped windows flanking the door and the arabesque scrolls modelled in plaster under the eaves (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The walls, with posts and beams shaped in plaster, look like a timber hall wrapped in earth. The porch posts still carry traces of pigment from the original colour scheme (Bungotakada City).

Visiting

The sutra repository stands right next to the main hall on its south side (Bungotakada City). No official information was found on access to the interior, with its revolving case and painted ceiling.