Taisanji Temple Main Hall

A Three-Bay Hall from the Middle of the Edo Period

The Taisanji Temple Main Hall (大山寺本堂, Taisan-ji Hondō) is a Buddhist hall of the middle Edo period (1661 to 1751) at Taisanji Temple in Kamiita Town, Tokushima Prefecture; it was moved to the site in 1796 and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on January 26, 2011, under registration number 36-0094.

The hall faces east across the temple grounds, high on the slopes of Mount Oyama. It is three bays wide at the front, a standard size for a Buddhist hall, with a hip-and-gable Irimoya-zukuri roof now covered in copper sheet and a building area of 155 square meters. Veranda posts stand along the front and both sides to carry a surrounding veranda, and a one-bay Kōhai porch projects from the center of the front.

Inside is the temple's principal image, a Thousand-Armed Kannon that Kobo Daishi is said to have received from his teacher Huiguo in China. From the north end of the hall a corridor runs on to the Daishido Hall.

Why the Taisanji Temple Main Hall Was Registered

The Taisanji Temple Main Hall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. It is the largest of the four registered buildings at Taisanji, and with the corridor and the Daishido Hall extending to its north, it anchors the temple's east-facing row of halls.

Its history comes in layers. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the structure to the middle Edo period but also records that it was moved in 1796, so the hall was first built somewhere else before that year and then re-erected here. The database does not say where it came from, and we could not find out. It was repaired again in 1952 and in 1985.

What the Agency singles out is the decoration. The Kibana and Tabasami are carved as dragons, baku and plants, a kind of ornament the Agency calls characteristic of the early modern period. The plan is a plain three-bay hall; the carving is where the builders spent their effort.

Outer Hall, Inner Sanctuary and Carved Brackets

Inside, the Taisanji Temple Main Hall follows the usual layout of a temple's main hall. The front bay across the full width is the Gejin, the outer area where worshippers kneel. Behind it lies the Naijin, the inner sanctuary, and at the back stand the main Shumidan altar platform and smaller side altars.

The carvings are concentrated around the porch. Kibana are the ends of the horizontal beams where they project past the porch posts; tabasami are the triangular brackets set between the top of each porch post and the rafters above it. At the Taisanji Temple Main Hall both are worked into dragons, baku and flowering plants.

The baku is a mythical beast with a trunk-like nose, believed to eat bad dreams, and a favorite of Edo-period temple carvers. The carvings read best not from straight in front but from a little to one side, where their outlines stand out against the shadow under the eaves.

Seeing the Taisanji Temple Main Hall

You reach the Taisanji Temple Main Hall by passing through the bell tower gate and climbing the stone steps, and its front and porch can be viewed from the open ground before it. The temple publishes no information on access to the interior. The outer bay is a place of worship, so pray from beneath the porch as other visitors do and keep clear during services.

For the carvings, move to the north or south corner of the porch. From the front, the posts and beam ends overlap; from the corners you can make out the triangular shape of the brackets as well. The corridor to the Daishido Hall begins at the north end of the main hall.