kyakuden　客殿

KEY WORD :　architecture / buildings & structures

Lit. guest hall. A building constructed in one of three residential styles: *shoin-zukuri 書院造; *shinden-zukuri 寝殿造; or shuden-zukuri 主殿造; or a mixture of these styles. It functioned as a reception hall or guest hall. Originally, it accommodated members of the imperial family and noblemen and was also called, at that time, kyakutei 客亭, but by the 16c the term was applied strictly to a guest hall at temples. It is often difficult to make a clear distinction between kyakuden and *houjou 方丈, the residence for the head priest at a Zen sect, Zen temple. The Kyakuden at Onjouji Kangakuin 園城寺勧学院 (1600) in Shiga prefecture, is a 7×7 bay, single story building with an entrance on the gable end. The roof is hip-and-gable *irimoya-zukuri 入母屋造. On the front facade there is an undulating gable *karahafu 唐破風. It contains nine rooms arranged in three rows, one behind the other, with three rooms in each row. Unlike the Koujouin Kyakuden 光浄院客殿 (1601), also at Onjouji, there is no doorway *choudaigamae 帳台構え behind which warriors were positioned ready to protect visitors from intruders. The other examples extant are at Gokokuji *Gekkouden 護国寺月光殿 (late 16c), which originally belonged to Onjouji and became the Nikkouin Kyakuden 日光院客殿, and Kongou zanmai-in Kyakuden 金剛三昧院客殿 (early 17c) Wakayama prefecture.

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