Komyoji Temple Main Hall

What Is Komyoji Temple Main Hall?

Komyoji Temple Main Hall (光明寺本堂, Kōmyō-ji Hondō) is the worship hall of Komyoji, a Jodo Shu (Pure Land) Buddhist temple in Shitaderamachi, Tennoji Ward, Osaka City; built in 1706, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) of Japan in 2008. It is a single-story timber structure with a tiled roof and a building area of 266 square meters.

The hall stands near the center of the temple grounds, east of Matsuyamachi-suji avenue, and you see it straight ahead once you pass through the west-facing gate. It is the oldest of the three registered buildings at Komyoji, older than the Priests' Quarters and the gate by well over a century.

Why Komyoji Temple Main Hall Was Registered

The registration criterion for Komyoji Temple Main Hall is that it serves as a model of its type. The temple's other two buildings were registered for their contribution to the townscape; the hall was singled out for its form.

The reason lies in the floor plan. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the interior is divided into an outer worship area (Gejin), an inner sanctuary (Naijin), and side chambers to the left and right, the textbook layout of a Jodo Shu main hall. In Pure Land practice the congregation gathers in the broad outer area to chant the nembutsu, the invocation of Amida Buddha, while the inner sanctuary holds the principal image. Here that arrangement can still be read directly from the building.

Doors and other fittings have been changed over time, but the Agency judges that the hall keeps the form of the mid-Edo period. It is still in use as the temple's main hall after more than 300 years in the middle of Osaka.

What to Look for at the Main Hall

The roof is a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) design laid with traditional round-and-flat tiles (Hongawarabuki). A one-bay porch (Kōhai) projects from the front. The facade is five bays wide, which is why halls of this size are called five-bay halls. From just inside the gate, look up at the porch posts and the timbers they carry.

The central bay holds paneled doors (Sankarado) of the folding, double-leaf kind: each leaf folds in half as it opens, so the whole bay can be thrown open. When the doors stand open for a service, the view runs deep into the outer worship area.

The bulk of the big hip-and-gable roof is easiest to grasp from just inside the gate rather than from the back of the grounds. To the left, on the north side, the Priests' Quarters connect to the hall through an entrance porch, and the two roofs line up together.

Visiting Komyoji Temple Main Hall

There is no announced schedule for public viewing of the interior of Komyoji Temple Main Hall. The exterior is best seen from inside the gate, but the temple does not publish visiting rules for the grounds either, so contact the temple before you go if you hope to visit. Keep your distance and refrain from photography while services are under way.

From the Matsuyamachi-suji pavement you can glimpse part of the roof and porch through the gate. Directions and visiting conditions for the temple as a whole are on the Komyoji Temple page.