Registered Tangible Cultural Properties · Okayama

Hofukuji Temple Shoin

Hofukuji Temple Shoin: A Meiji Study Hall with a Natural-Wood Alcove

A mid-Meiji study hall joined to the abbot's quarters of Hofukuji in Soja, Okayama, whose 4.5-mat room has an alcove beam of natural wood. Registered in 2009.

Designation Registered Tangible Cultural Properties

Location Okayama

Hofukuji Temple Shoin: A Meiji Study Hall with a Natural-Wood Alcove Beam

The Hofukuji Temple Shoin (寶福寺書院, Hōfukuji Shoin) is a mid-Meiji-era study and reception hall joined by a covered corridor to the rear of the abbot's quarters at Hōfukuji, a Rinzai Zen temple in Ijirino, Soja City, Okayama Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on April 28, 2009.

It is a single-story building with its ridge running east to west, roofed in the Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable form with Sangawara-buki pantiles, and it has a tiled lean-to roof along its side. The building area is 72 square meters. Inside are 2 rooms, a 4.5-mat room to the west and a 6-mat room to the east, with a tatami strip 1 bay wide along the north side, and a veranda of boards laid lengthwise runs from the south around to the west. It dates from the mid-Meiji era and was repaired in 1958.

A shoin is a building centered on formal tatami rooms for receiving guests, reading or enjoying tea. The Hofukuji Temple Shoin lies deep in the complex, reached through the abbot's quarters by a corridor, and was made as a quiet living space quite different in character from the ceremonial abbot's hall. Its registration number is 33-0214.

Why It Was Registered

The Hofukuji Temple Shoin was registered as a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out the 4.5-mat room, describing it as a living room of real character.

Along the west wall of that room, a Tokonoma alcove and a Tsukeshoin are set side by side. A tsukeshoin is a built-in desk with a paper-screened window projecting beside the alcove, originally a place for reading. Above the alcove, the horizontal beam called the otoshigake, which carries the small wall over the alcove opening, is made from natural wood rather than squared timber. Using a piece that keeps its natural form at such a focal point is a technique shared with tea rooms and the sukiya style, and it gives the room an ease quite unlike the formality of the abbot's hall.

The Hofukuji Temple Shoin dates from the middle of the Meiji era, evidence that work on the compound rebuilt in the Edo period went on into Meiji.

What to Look For

The heart of the Hofukuji Temple Shoin is the 4.5-mat room, with the alcove and built-in desk side by side on the west wall and the natural-wood beam spanning the top of the alcove. That natural-wood beam is the focal point of the room's design.

Outside, the tiled lean-to roof sits beneath the main hip-and-gable roof, so the roofs appear in 2 layers. The veranda from south to west, with boards laid along the length of the building, links the rooms to the garden side.

The shoin lies behind the abbot's quarters, connected by a corridor. Comparing the great roof of the abbot's hall with the modest roof of the shoin behind it shows how the difference between a ceremonial hall and a living room is expressed in scale and form.

Visiting

The Hofukuji Temple Shoin stands behind the abbot's quarters. The prefectural and city tourism pages do not list the shoin rooms as open to the public.

The shoin sits deep behind the abbot's hall, close to the temple's living quarters, so please do not enter restricted areas.

No photography notices are posted in the published guides. The two layers of roof, the tiled lean-to tucked under the main hip-and-gable, are easiest to read from the corner where the veranda turns from the south side to the west.

📍 Plan Your Visit to Okayama: Find tours, activities & transport passes near Hofukuji Temple Shoin; [ Kurashiki Bikan District & Korakuen Garden Tours ]

Q&A

QWhen was the Hofukuji Temple Shoin built?: AIn the mid-Meiji era, with repairs in 1958. It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on April 28, 2009.

QWhere is the Hofukuji Shoin?: ABehind the abbot's quarters, connected to it by a covered corridor.

QWhat is the layout of the Hofukuji Temple Shoin?: AA 4.5-mat room and a 6-mat room side by side, a tatami strip on the north and a veranda from south to west. The building area is 72 square meters.

QWhat is special about the Hofukuji Shoin?: AThe 4.5-mat room has an alcove and built-in desk side by side, with a natural-wood beam over the alcove.

QCan visitors see inside the Hofukuji Temple Shoin?: AThe tourism pages do not list the rooms as open. Visitors see the exterior behind the abbot's quarters from the areas open to them.

Basic Information

Name	Hofukuji Temple Shoin
Location	1968-1 Ijirino, Soja City, Okayama Prefecture
Designation	Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building)
Year Designated	2009 (Heisei 21), registered
Quantity	1 building
Dimensions	Single-story timber building, tiled roof, building area 72 square meters
Owner	Hofukuji (religious corporation)
Public Access	Rooms not announced as open