daijoukyuu　大嘗宮

KEY WORD :　architecture / buildings

Also daijouguu. A temporary palace of unstripped timber, untreated grasses and reeds, and bamboo, used for the Grand Food Festival *daijousai 大嘗祭, which takes place after an emperor's enthronement. Exactly seven days prior to the festival, construction begins and is finished in five days amid elaborate ceremonies, rituals and offerings. At the end of the seven-day festival all the temporary buildings are burned. The area allotted for the Grand Food Festival has a width of 74.61m east to west, and 35.50m north to south and is enclosed by a brushwood fence *shibagaki 柴垣, with gate-like entrances *torii 鳥居, on each of the four sides. Traditionally all but the north torii are closed by gates set between the posts. A north-south passage divides the precinct into two areas called the Yuki-in 悠紀院 on the east and the Suki-in 主基院 on the west. Another brushwood fence, set on the same axis, screens the two sides. A torii in the center provides access. The two precincts, Yuki-in and Suki-in, are again divided approximately in half on an east-west axis by a fence that allowed no direct access. The areas to the south contained the Yuki-in and Suki-in *shouden 正殿. These structures are the sanctuaries and focal points of the Grand Food Festival. Toilets are located in the north-east and south-west corners of the two sectors respectively. The two shouden are identical. Both are 5 x 2 bays with rough unbarked wooden ridges running on a north-south axis. They have gabled roofs covered with fresh miscanthus thatch with entrances on the gabled ends. Forked finials *chigi 千木 and billets *katsuogi 堅魚木 adorn the roof as they do on Shinto shrines. The number varies; ex. Eight according to the JOUGAN GISHIKI 貞観儀式 (Ceremonials of the Jougan 貞観 era, 859-876), and in an illustration from the KOJI RUIEN 古事類宛 7/188-189, there are three sets of two circular billets. The interiors of the shouden are partitioned into two chambers. The front one is called dou 堂 and is 2 x 2 bays. The rear chamber, muro 室, is 3 x 3 bays. The walls of the inner rooms of both shouden are made of grass and straw mats and are not movable. The walls of the outer rooms have reed blinds and straw mats. These are flexible and can be rolled up if necessary. Originally, the shouden had earthen floors spread with tufted grass and covered with split bamboo upon which straw matting was laid. But in a record connected with the Grand Food Festival of 1068, a reference is made to slatted floors *sunoko 簀子 and stairs in the south indicating that from the latter part of the 10c. through the time of the festival at the beginning of the Taishou period, wooden slatted floors and verandas surrounding the buildings were used instead of the grass and straw matting which covered the earthen floors of antiquity. (For the placement of interior furnishings.) The mills *usuya 臼屋, and the cooking facilities kashiwadeya 膳屋, are located in the northern halves of the Yuki-in and the Suki-in and are placed on an east-west axis. The latter is 5 x 2 bays divided into two rooms which are 2 x 2 bays and 3 x 2 bays. The smaller of the two cooking rooms is placed at the end of the building which faces the central passage. The kashiwadeya resembles the hall for the preparation of food for the gods at Ise Jinguu 伊勢神宮 *imibiyaden 忌火屋殿. The ground plan for the daijoukyuu from the JOUGAN GISHIKI shows gates at the center of the north side which lead to the Emperor's Purification Hall, kairyuuden 廻立殿. Before the modern period, the daijoukyuu was set up in front of the Shishinden 紫宸殿. Recently, excavations of the *choudouin 朝堂院 in front of the daigokuden 大極殿 at the ancient Heijou 平城 capital in Nara have revealed what is believed to be a daijoukyuu constructed during the 8c. .

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