Jozenji Temple Main Hall

What the Jozenji Temple Main Hall is

Jozenji Temple Main Hall (上善寺本堂, Jōzen-ji Hondō) is an Edo-period worship hall at the centre of Jozenji in Sakaemachi, Izumisano City, Osaka Prefecture; built in 1683 and remodelled in 1755, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on July 8, 2008, under registration number 27-0501.

The hall faces west, lined up directly with the front gate on the street. Its roof is Irimoya-zukuri, a hip-and-gable form, laid in Hongawarabuki tiling, and the facade is seven bays wide. A one-bay Kōhai projects from the middle of the front to shelter the steps.

The building is a single-storey timber structure with a building area of 380 square metres, the oldest and largest of the six registered buildings at Jozenji. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as an example of a large-scale Jodo-shu main hall.

A plan with three rooms down each side

The Jozenji main hall was registered as a model of architectural form, and what earns that description is its floor plan.

A Jodo-shu main hall normally sets a Naijin, the inner sanctuary where priests conduct services, behind a Gejin, the space where lay worshippers sit. Jozenji keeps that arrangement but adds two things: a broad veranda across the front, and, along each side, an aisle one and a half bays deep lined with three rooms. That standard sectarian plan with extra side rooms is what the national database singles out as distinctive.

Side rooms like these would have helped separate priests from worshippers during large memorial services or held overflow crowds, though no source consulted for this page records how each room was first used.

Every bay of the facade is fitted with double-leaf, bi-fold panelled doors, framed in stiles and rails and hinged to fold in half at the centre. Because all seven bays carry the same doors, the front of the hall can be opened almost end to end.

What to look for

Start from just inside the front gate. The seven bays sit evenly under the broad hip-and-gable roof, and only the canopy at the centre breaks forward. The whole symmetrical front fits neatly within the frame of the gate.

Up close, look at the doors. The grid of stiles and rails repeats bay after bay, so even with the doors shut the facade keeps a steady rhythm.

Walk along the side and the depth of the hall becomes clear, with the side aisle and its three rooms adding bulk behind the facade. The 72 years between construction in 1683 and the remodelling of 1755 mean the present building combines work from two campaigns; the published records do not say how far the later work went.

Visiting the Jozenji Temple Main Hall

The exterior can be seen from the temple grounds during the temple's opening hours. The hall faces west, so its front catches the light in the afternoon.

Viewing the interior requires a reservation made by telephone with the temple in advance. There is no published policy on photography inside the hall, so ask when you visit.

Directions to the temple and its opening hours are covered on the Jozenji page.