Myokyoji Kanshoken

The inner study behind the guest hall

The Myokyoji Kanshoken (妙教寺寒松軒, Myōkyō-ji Kanshōken) is an early Taisho-era study hall attached to the north side of the priests' quarters at Saijo Inari Myokyoji in Takamatsu Inari, Kita Ward, Okayama City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2009/01/08. The temple also calls it the oku-shoin, the inner study. A table in an Okayama City article dates it to 1917.

Its name, "cold pine pavilion", echoes the Kanshotei, the "cold pine garden" shown with the guest hall. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the west side of the Myokyoji Kanshoken faces a garden; the temple describes a second garden, the Fukujutei, on its east side. Much of its character comes from standing between gardens.

Open below, closed above

The Myokyoji Kanshoken is a two-storey timber building under a hip-and-gable roof of pantiles, almost square in plan at 8.9 metres by 9.0 metres, with a building area of 77 square metres. The ground floor has four rooms arranged two by two, the principal room with a decorative alcove.

The two floors could hardly be more different. Downstairs, glazed sliding doors open the rooms to the garden. Upstairs, the walls are sealed in white plaster and pierced only by small cusped windows. The lower floor is for looking out; the upper floor is for withdrawing. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a building designed with the garden in front of it in mind.

The eastern garden, the temple explains, uses a line of 15 stepping stones to divide yin from yang: pale Bitchu sand and an open-mouthed guardian dog on the yang side, moss and a closed-mouthed one on the yin side. The open ground floor of the Myokyoji Kanshoken lets you take in the gardens on both sides from inside.

What to look for, and visiting

Because the Myokyoji Kanshoken sits behind the guest hall, you see it at close range on the paid visit to the Kanshotei garden and guest hall, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; admission is from 300 yen for adults, from 200 yen for students and groups, and free for primary-school children and younger. The temple does not say whether the Kanshoken's own rooms are part of the visit, so ask at the reception.

From the garden, notice how light the glazed lower floor looks under the heavy white upper storey, and look closely at the shape of the upstairs windows. Opening hours and directions are on the Saijo Inari Myokyoji page.