Anyoin Temple Priests' Quarters

The Residence at the Centre of Anyoin

Anyoin Temple Priests' Quarters (安養院庫裡, An'yōin kuri) is the residential building of Anyoin, a sub-temple of Saikyoji in Sakamoto-honmachi, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture; it was built in 1928 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2001.

A Kuri is the part of a temple where the priests live and meals are cooked. At Anyoin it stands near the middle of the plot, facing north, and with a building area of 175 square metres it is the largest of the temple's buildings, the one that carries its daily life.

In the early Shōwa rebuilding it followed the gate, which had gone up the year before.

Big Roof, Kitchen Wing: Why Anyoin Temple Priests' Quarters Was Registered

The main block has an Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable roof and is entered from the gable end, a layout called Tsumairi. A broad roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles is ringed on all four sides by a lower Geya lean-to eave. On the west a kitchen wing with a plain Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof is joined on, so even from outside the living quarters and the cooking area can be told apart by their roofs.

The building was registered as a model of form. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes the square posts along the outer walls topped with funa-hijiki brackets, interior rooms laid out in well-balanced proportions, and finely made details such as the ranma transoms. Anyoin Temple Priests' Quarters was valued for combining the mass of its roof with that delicacy inside.

What to Look for at Anyoin Temple Priests' Quarters

The roof is what you notice first. The high main roof is wrapped by the lower eave, so the whole thing steps down in two tiers and spreads low. That is probably why a building of this size feels calm rather than imposing.

Under the eaves, look for the funa-hijiki: short, boat-shaped blocks set on top of the posts to carry the beam above. It is a simple bracket, common in houses and small buildings, and here it sits on square posts. In that detail the building shows that, for all its temple setting, it is a home.

Walk round to the west and the gabled kitchen wing appears, attached to the main block. Hip-and-gable for the living rooms, a straight gable for the kitchen: the roofs tell you what happens underneath.

Visiting Anyoin Temple Priests' Quarters

Anyoin Temple Priests' Quarters is the priests' home, and no interior openings have been announced. The balanced rooms and fine transoms that the Agency for Cultural Affairs praises cannot be seen from outside.

If the temple allows you into the grounds, look first at the gable front and the lower eave from the north, then go round to the west to see how the kitchen wing joins on. This is a place where people live, so please do not photograph into windows or doorways, and ask the temple before taking any pictures.