Anyoin Temple Benten Hall

A Small Hall Facing East on a Rise

Anyoin Temple Benten Hall (安養院弁天堂, An'yōin Benten-dō) is a Buddhist hall at Anyoin, a sub-temple of Saikyoji in Sakamoto-honmachi, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture; it was built in 1935 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2001.

It stands on a small rise near the middle of the west side of the grounds, facing east. With a building area of 12 square metres it is the smallest of Anyoin's nine registered buildings, and its roof is copper sheet: every other registered building here is tiled.

Benten is Benzaiten, a goddess worshipped in Japan for music, eloquence and good fortune. Put the nine buildings in date order and Anyoin Temple Benten Hall comes last, closing the early Shōwa rebuilding of the temple.

Orthodox Wayō in Miniature: Why Anyoin Temple Benten Hall Was Registered

The plan is square, with the altar area projecting at the back. A veranda with a Kōran railing capped by Giboshi finials runs along the front and both sides, and the eaves are deep.

It was registered as a model of form. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls Anyoin Temple Benten Hall an orthodox Buddhist hall in the Wayō style despite its size: the frame is tied with Nageshi tie-beams, the brackets are of the three-bearing-block type, the openings are plank doors and slatted windows, and the interior has a fine coffered ceiling. Wayō is the native Japanese temple style that goes back to the Nara and Heian periods, and here its full vocabulary fits, unabridged, into a hall of 12 square metres.

What to Look for at Anyoin Temple Benten Hall

On top of the railing posts sit giboshi, the onion-shaped finials also seen on old bridge railings. They run round three sides of the little hall.

Above the posts, look for the Mitsudo-gumi brackets: a large block on top of each post carries a bracket arm with three smaller blocks that support the beam, the standard bracket of a wayō hall. The nageshi tie-beams running between the posts add the crisp horizontal lines typical of the style.

Finally, the deep eaves and the copper roof. Lighter than tile and laid much thinner, copper sheet gives the roofline of a small hall a lighter edge.

Visiting Anyoin Temple Benten Hall

No openings of the interior of Anyoin Temple Benten Hall have been announced, so there is no stated chance to see its coffered ceiling.

If the temple allows you into the grounds, view the hall from the east, where the plank doors, slatted windows and finial-capped railing face you. Because the hall stands on higher ground you look up at it, which shows off the depth of the eaves. Photography rules have not been published, so ask the temple first.