betsuin 別院

Also called *gobō 御坊. In the Nagoya area, it is called kakesho 掛所.

1　Lit. separate hall. A branch temple with its own name managed in the 7th-8th century by a main temple. It may be located fairly near the main temple or at a considerable distance from it. In the 7th-8th century, the name of the branch temple usually was prefixed by the name of the main temple and was managed by it. In the 9th century, with the advent of the new Buddhist sects—Tendai 天台 and Shingon 真言—the system of main and branch temples became fairly common. When the Pure Land sects—first the Pure Land or Jōdo 浄土 sect; then the True Pure Land or Jōdoshin 浄土真 sect—arose in the 11th-12th century, branch temples became relatively independent of the main temple and were then known by their own names only. Examples: the 1495 Naniwa Betsuin 難波別院 belonging to Nishi Honganji 西本願寺 and the 15th-century Tsumura Betsuin 津村別院 belonging to Higashi Honganji 東本願寺. Both main temples are in Kyoto.

2　Branch offices for administrating temple affairs were sometimes also called betsuin.

3　Utilitarian buildings, for example the bathhouse, or *ōyuya 大湯屋, at temples in the 7th-8th century were called betsuin because they were erected outside the sacred precinct of the seven basic buildings considered necessary for religious activities.