Saikyoji Temple Naishika Storehouse

A Small Clay Storehouse in the Chief Abbot's Section

Saikyoji Temple Naishika Storehouse (西教寺内司課蔵, Saikyō-ji Naishika-gura) is an early Shōwa-period clay-walled storehouse at Saikyō-ji, the head temple of the Tendai Shinsei school in Sakamoto-honmachi, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on August 28, 2001.

The Naishika is the section of the temple reserved for the kanchō, the chief abbot of the school. The Saikyoji Temple Naishika Storehouse stands in that section, north of the Shoin and east of the abbot's living quarters, with its front turned to the south. It was registered as one of four Naishika buildings, alongside the abbot's office, his quarters and the corridor that links them to the Shoin.

It is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri building with a gabled roof of interlocking pantiles, entered on the long side (Hirairi), and it covers 26 square metres.

Why the Naishika Storehouse Was Registered

The Saikyoji Temple Naishika Storehouse was registered as a building that serves as a model of its type. A pair of outward-opening doors is set in the middle of the south wall, sheltered by a small gabled canopy that forms the Kuramae, the covered space in front of the entrance. The canopy is plastered right up to the underside of its eaves, and the lower walls are faced with vertical boards to protect the part most exposed to rain and knocks.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs sums it up in a few words: small, but carefully made. The plastering around the doors and the neat finish of the boarded base show that nothing was skimped, even on a building few outsiders would ever see.

Immediately east, between this storehouse and the Bathhouse, stands the initiation storehouse from the same years. That one is taller, with two full storeys inside, and its rafters are plastered over, so even two storehouses of the same date and type were built with visibly different details.

What to Look For

The south front is the whole composition: double doors in the centre, a gabled canopy over them, white plaster above and dark boarding below. Because the entrance is on the long side, the doors and canopy sit squarely in the middle of a broad wall.

Saikyō-ji has three registered storehouses: the Seikyo Storehouse of 1879, and the initiation storehouse and the Saikyoji Temple Naishika Storehouse from the early Shōwa period. Comparing their canopies and eaves shows how the temple's way of building storehouses carried on, with small changes, over roughly half a century.

Visiting the Naishika Storehouse

The Saikyoji Temple Naishika Storehouse is a store within the chief abbot's section, and its interior is not open. It is not on the temple heritage guide's map of stops, and its position north of the Shoin is outside the usual visitor route.

Its front faces into the private section, so chances to see the doors and canopy head-on are limited; ask the temple in advance if it matters to you.