Main Hall 本堂

Sairaido is also known for its extraordinary fusuma sliding door paintings and as a place where visitors can offer prayers to Amida Buddha.

Hondō

The Hondō is the main ritual hall of the temple complex, built in 1639 for ceremonial functions. The building follows the typical layout of an abbot’s quarters in a Zen temple: a large rectangle divided into six smaller rooms by sliding panels. The southern facade opens onto a wide, covered veranda with views across the Ginshadan and Kinkyōchi Pond, with the Kannonden in the distance. A statue of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, is enshrined in the innermost, central room. This room has a vaulted ceiling with latticed wooden panels. The Hondō also contains memorial tablets for Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–1490) and his wife.

The sliding panels in four of the rooms feature ink paintings by celebrated eighteenth-century artists Yosa Buson (1716–1784) and Ike no Taiga (1723–1776). Buson and Taiga specialized in Nanga painting, a school of Japanese art from the late Edo period (1603–1867) originally based on paintings by Chinese literati, and usually depicting birds, flowers and landscapes of China.

Hondo (Main Hall)

The main hall of Otagi Nenbutsuji is a well-preserved example of Kamakura-period (1185–1333) architecture and is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property. The building was moved to its current location on the mountainside in 1922 and underwent major restorations in the 1980s. Its coffered ceiling is a characteristic design of the Kamakura period and has a raised area near the center to emphasize the importance and sanctity of the space above the altar. The temple’s principal object of worship was originally placed directly under the raised ceiling, but the altar was later moved back to make room for services that require walking in circles in the inner sanctuary while chanting sutras.

The principal object of worship is Yakuyoke Senju Kannon (“Thousand-Armed Kannon That Wards Off Evil”), the bodhisattva of compassion believed to offer protection from misfortune. The many arms of Kannon and the tools they hold symbolize the bodhisattva reaching out to help those in need. The statue was carved around the time when the hall was originally constructed. Over the centuries, it lost some of its limbs, but was later repaired by Nishimura Kocho. Other notable statues in the hall include the bodhisattva Hiun Kannon, the guardian of air travel, and the bodhisattva Karitei, the protector of motherhood and children.

Hondo (Main Hall)

The main hall of Adashino Nenbutsuji was constructed in 1712 and enshrines the temple’s principal object of worship, a statue of Amida Buddha from the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Amida is also known as the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life and is particularly revered in the Pure Land Buddhist tradition. The figure is portrayed in simple clothing, seated in deep meditation. On the left side of the hall is a statue of Juichimen Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion in an eleven-headed form. On the right side is another statue of Amida seated in the half-lotus position with one leg down, seeming about to rise from the pedestal.