Anyoin Temple Storehouse

A 2-Storey Storehouse Beside the Amida Hall

Anyoin Temple Storehouse (安養院蔵, An'yōin-gura) is an earthen-walled storehouse at Anyoin, a sub-temple of Saikyoji in Sakamoto-honmachi, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture; it was built in 1934 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2001.

It stands directly north of the Amida Hall, side by side with it. The building follows Dozo-zukuri construction and rises a full 2 storeys under a Yosemune-zukuri hipped roof of pantiles, with its doorway in the gable end, the arrangement called Tsumairi. The building area is 30 square metres. Since the Amida Hall dates from the same year, the hall and its storehouse were clearly planned together.

Why Anyoin Temple Storehouse Was Registered

It was registered as a model of form. The Agency for Cultural Affairs sums up Anyoin Temple Storehouse as unshowy but technically accomplished, and singles out four things: how the outer walls are finished, the eave on the east side, the treatment of the doorway, and the inner walls.

The lower part of the outer wall is rendered in mortar and the upper part in white Shikkui lime plaster. The newer material takes the rain splashing up from the ground, while the traditional plaster finishes the rest. On the east face a small eave is roofed in copper sheet rather than tile. The form is that of a traditional storehouse, but the choice of materials has the practical streak of early Shōwa building.

The Torii-Shaped Doorway of Anyoin Temple Storehouse

The detail to look for is the east doorway. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the plaster around it is shaped like a torii, the gateway familiar from Shinto shrines: two uprights and a crossbar frame the door, giving a working storehouse a formal face suited to a temple.

Above it is the copper-sheet eave. Tiled main roof and metal hood, white plaster and grey mortar: within one small building each material has its own job.

Inside, the walls are lined with wide vertical boards. Storehouses are usually boarded inside to keep stored objects away from the earthen walls and to temper the humidity, and the care taken here in a part no visitor sees is part of why the building was registered.

Seeing Anyoin Temple Storehouse

Anyoin Temple Storehouse is used for storage and there is no announcement of the interior being opened, so the boarded walls inside cannot be seen.

If the temple lets you into the grounds, head for the east side. The torii-shaped doorway, the copper eave and the two wall finishes are all on that face. Seen together with the Amida Hall immediately to the south, the storehouse also shows how the two buildings of 1934 were paired. Ask the temple before taking photographs, as no policy has been published.