Taisanji Temple Corridor

A Corridor That Doubles as a Hall of 33 Kannon

The Taisanji Temple Corridor (大山寺回廊, Taisan-ji Kairō) is a roofed passage of the late Edo period (1830 to 1868) linking the main hall and the Daishido Hall of Taisanji Temple in Kamiita Town, Tokushima Prefecture, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on January 26, 2011, under registration number 36-0096.

It runs north and south, joining the north side of the main hall to the Daishido Hall under one roof. It measures 4 bays along its length and 3 bays across, with a building area of 45 square meters and a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of pantiles. Of the four registered buildings at Taisanji, it is the only one roofed in tile.

It is more than a passage. Inside the Taisanji Temple Corridor, an altar platform holds a long row of statues of the 33 Kannon, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the building as an unusual kind of temple structure, a corridor made into a place of worship.

What Makes the Taisanji Temple Corridor Unusual

A kairo at a temple is normally just a covered way between buildings. The Taisanji Temple Corridor adds the function of a hall to that. Its width of 3 bays is divided into three rows running its full length, and each row has its own job.

The middle row is closed off by a low wainscot wall topped with lattice doors on the front side and by a plank wall at the back, and inside it an altar platform carries the 33 Kannon. The front row, one bay deep, is the place where worshippers stand to pray to them. In effect, a long, narrow Kannon hall has been built into the passage.

Sets of 33 Kannon rest on the belief that the bodhisattva Kannon takes 33 forms to save people, and they often reproduce the principal images of the 33 temples of the Saigoku pilgrimage in western Japan; lined up in a row, they let visitors trace that pilgrimage without leaving the temple. The sources we checked do not say which images the statues here copy. The corridor was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Wainscot, Lattice Doors and a Batten Ceiling

From the front, the Taisanji Temple Corridor shows a low wainscot at the base with lattice doors above, and through the lattice you can see the Kannon on the platform behind. The back of the middle row is a plank wall, so the statues stand against boards.

Over the front row, where people pray, is a Saobuchi-tenjō ceiling of boards held by thin battens. A corridor meant only for passing through often leaves the underside of the roof exposed; here the front row is finished as a place of worship.

The gabled roof runs north and south. Between the copper-roofed main hall and the iron-roofed Daishido Hall, the pantile roof of the Taisanji Temple Corridor is the one change of texture in the row.

Seeing the Taisanji Temple Corridor

The Taisanji Temple Corridor lies between the north end of the main hall and the Daishido Hall, and its front can be seen from the open ground on the east. The front row is where worshippers pray to the Kannon, and from there you can see the row of statues through the lattice doors. The temple publishes nothing on opening the doors or on photography inside, so leave the doors closed and do not get in the way of people praying.

For a view of the whole building, step back to the middle of the open ground. From there the main hall, corridor and Daishido Hall read as one continuous east-facing front, and you can see how the corridor links the two halls.