Edo

Eleven 17th-century buildings designated together in 2016, spread across Mount Hiei's three precincts and Sakamoto: the Monju-ro gate, Saicho's mausoleum and more.

Rebuilt around 1678 in Mount Hiei's Tōdō precinct, this ordination hall wraps a skirt roof round a three-bay core so it looks two-tiered; inside is a stone platform.

Rebuilt in 1640, this 41-bay cloister encloses the forecourt of Enryakuji's head hall on Mount Hiei. A restoration viewing stage lets you look down on its roof.

Built in 1634 as the Buddhist hall of Sakamoto's Toshogu shrine, it was moved up Mount Hiei to become the Great Lecture Hall, home to statues of sect founders.

An Important Cultural Property in Otsu, this 1670 shoin of Otsu Betsuin wraps in a U shape around a courtyard. A rare niche, hearth and shelf set its plan apart.

Ōtsu Betsuin Main Hall, Shiga, rebuilt in 1649, anchors a Higashi Hongan-ji branch founded in 1600 by the priest Kyonyo. An early-Edo Important Cultural Property.

Kannonji Shoin in Kusatsu, Shiga, is an early Edo building 11.9 metres wide with a shingled roof. Listed in 1907; said to be moved from a shogunal palace in 1685.

Completed in 1764 at Kondo in Higashiomi, Guzeiji's main hall is a mature eighteenth-century Shinshu hall, designated in 1987 with four construction documents.

The former main sanctuary of Kora Shrine at Amago in Shiga, this one-bay hall of 1634 was set aside in 1883 and preserved by that demotion; designated in 1915.

Built in 1739 at Saikyoji in Sakamoto, Otsu, this 7-by-6-bay main hall with a rear tablet hall became an Important Cultural Property in 1986. See carved monkeys.

Saitoku-ji's main hall, built in 1713 north of Lake Biwa, keeps a thatched roof and a gable-end entrance at 16.5 metres wide. Akao was an Azai retainer seat.

Shomyoji's main hall in Hino, Shiga, said to be a Kyoto palace building moved here in 1645, keeps palace shutters under a bark roof; Important Cultural Property.

Guest and study halls of the early Edo period at Daitsuji in Nagahama, Shiga, with paintings attributed to Kano and Okyo, facing gardens that borrow Mount Ibuki.

Great reception hall of the early Edo period at Daitsuji in Nagahama, Shiga, nearly 22 metres square under a hipped roof and said to come from Fushimi Castle.

Main hall of 1657 at Daitsuji, the Nagahama Gobo branch temple of Higashi Honganji in Shiga, a vast hip-and-gable hall said to come from Fushimi Castle.

The main hall of Chiyo Shrine in Hikone, Shiga, built in 1638 in the early Edo period, is a three-bay nagare-style shrine hall roofed in cypress bark.

The main hall of Hyakusaiji, a Koto Sanzan temple in Higashiomi, Shiga, rebuilt in 1650 after the temple was burned, gives a medieval form early modern clarity.

An Edo-period branch shrine of Hiyoshi Taisha in Otsu, built 1634. Worship hall, chamber and sanctuary link into an H-shaped plan under black lacquer and colour.

The Former Miyaji Family Residence, a small Edo-period thatched farmhouse moved from Kunitomo in Nagahama to Azuchi, Shiga, keeps a well-preserved interior.

Myōōin, a Tendai retreat founded in 859 north of Ōtsu, had four halls and its terraced precinct designated Important Cultural Properties in 1993. Free entry.