kaidan'in 戒壇院

A Tendai 天台 sect building that contains an ordination platform used exclusively for the ceremony to impart the Buddhist precepts upon priests and nuns. At the ceremony, called jukai 受戒, the initiates vow to accept and follow the precepts of Buddhism. The Chinese priest Jianzhen (J: Ganjin 鑑真, 688-763), who reached Japan in the mid-8th century is said to have ordered an ordination platform to be erected in front of Tōdaiji 東大寺 (Nara), in April 754, for the precepts of Emperor Shōmu 聖武. In May 754, it was relocated west of the Daibutsuden 大仏殿 where a building had been erected for the platform. This is considered the first in Japan. The building was often destroyed and rebuilt. Finally, in 1731 at Reiunji 霊雲寺 in Tokyo, it was rebuilt in its original form. Another kaidan'in was built in 1678 as the center of the Tendai sect. It is called the Enryakuji Daijō kaidan'in dō 延暦寺大乗戒壇院堂 and is located in Shiga Prefecture. It is a 5 × 5 bay square, single-storied structure. The kaidan is 3 × 3 bays and a 1-bay wide aisle surrounds it. This aisle is called a *mokoshi 裳階 and has a pent roof. The kaidan'in has a coffered ceiling, and the roof over it is pyramidal *hōgyō zukuri 宝形造, with an undulating bargeboard *karahafu 唐破風. Roofing is *tochibuki 栩葺, that is, wood roofing 1 cm to 3 cm thick and 9 cm to 15 cm wide. The kaidan'in or daijō kaidan'in correspond to the Kanjōdō 潅頂堂 of the Shingon 真言 sect.