jinaimachi　寺内町

KEY WORD :　architecture / folk dwellings

Also jinaichou. A type of religious township that developed in the Sengoku period in connection mainly with temples of the Joudo 浄土 sect, though *Nichiren 日蓮 sect examples also existed. From the late 15c there were jinaimachi principally in the Kinki 近畿, Hokuriku 北陸, and Toukai 東海 regions. The earliest was Yoshizaki Honganji 吉崎本願寺 in Echizen (founded 1471) and the last, Yao 八尾 in Kawachi (founded 1606). Jinaimachi can be divided into three major categories: 1 those that constituted the headquarters or major religious centres of the sect, such as Yamashina 山科 in Yamashiro 山城 and Ishiyama 石山 in Settsu 摂津 (on the site of which Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 (1536-98) founded Osaka) ; 2 those founded by members of the local landowning warrior class, such as Imai 今井 in Yamato 大和 ; 3 those founded by local town or village headmen, such as Tondabayashi 富田林 in Kawachi 河内. In all cases the jinaimachi was connected with a temple of the ruling sect, but the temple, the main hall of which generally faced east, was most prominent in the case of the first category, where it was surrounded by the mansions of the abbot, houshu 法主, and leading prelates. Associated with the temple was a township, divided into districts *machi 町, with town houses *machiya 町家, lining streets which, in the more developed examples, were laid out on an orthogonal grid system, much as in the castle towns *joukamachi 城下町, but on a smaller scale. Here the citizens, who were members of the sect, lived and worked. Jinaimachi of categories two & three were smaller and the temple was often less dominant. In all cases, the entire settlement was rendered defensible, with advantage taken of natural features such as rivers, marshes, and hilltops, and supplemented by ramparts, moats and gates. The enthusiasm of local landowners and headmen for Joudoshin 浄土真 sect was closely connected with a desire to achieve independence from oppressive local and regional authorities, whose control the collective security of sect membership enabled them to defy. Some jinaimachi were new foundations, others were existing settlements replanned and laid out anew, while others again were existing settlements that simply had a sect temple founded within them and defences erected, but were otherwise little changed.

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