Keikyuuin　桂宮院

KEY WORD :　architecture / buildings & structures

Lit. cinnamon hall. An octagonal main hall, Hondou 本堂, of the subsidiary temple, Keikyuuin at Kouryuuji 広隆寺 (1251) Kyoto. It has a white, plaster-covered mound *kamebara 亀腹, underneath a plank floor on the interior that extends beyond the walls of the structure to form a simple board veranda with the cut ends exposed *kirime-en 切目縁. Each corner of the octagonal veranda is supported by a timber post set on a base stone. Each bay is 2.13m wide. Plank doors fill four bays, and windows are set in the upper half of the four intervening bays. Three-on-one bracket complexes are positioned above each pillar. There are no struts or bracket complexes in the spaces between the posts. Base rafters *keshou daruki 化粧垂木, and flying rafters *hien daruki 飛檐垂木, form the eaves. The roofing is made of cypress bark *hiwadabuki 桧皮葺, and has an octagonal shaped cover *roban 露盤, to cover the ends of the eight sections at the peak of the roof. An inverted bowl-like form *fukubachi 伏鉢, is place on the roban. A ball-like decoration is set on the fukubachi and is decorated with fillagree extending from the ball in four equal sections. The smooth board ceiling slopes upward in eight triangular sections from the top of the walls. This is a most unusual arrangement. It is overall an exceptional building in its simplicity and elegance. Housed in the Keikyuuin are an image of Shoutoku Taishi at 16 years old (see *Shoutoku Taishizou 聖徳太子像), Amida nyoraizou 阿弥陀如来像 and Nyoirin Kannonzou 如意輪観音像.

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