Also daijōgū. A temporary palace of unstripped timber, untreated grasses and reeds, and bamboo, used for the Grand Food Festival *daijōsai 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 74.61 m east to west, and 35.50 m 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 Yukiin 悠紀院 on the east and the Sukiin 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, Yukiin and Sukiin, 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 Yukiin and Sukiin *shōden 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 shōden 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 Jōgan gishiki 貞観儀式 (Ceremonials of the Jōgan 貞観 era, 859-76), 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 shōden are partitioned into two chambers. The front one is called dō 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 shōden 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 shōden 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 10th century through the time of the festival at the beginning of the Taishō 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 Yukiin and the Sukiin 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 Jingū 伊勢神宮 *imibiyaden 忌火屋殿. The ground plan for the daijōkyū from the Jōgan gishiki shows gates at the center of the north side which lead to the Emperor's Purification Hall, kairyūden 廻立殿. Before the modern period, the daijōkyū was set up in front of the Shishinden 紫宸殿. Recently, excavations of the *chōdōin 朝堂院 in front of the daigokuden 大極殿 at the ancient Heijō 平城 capital in Nara have revealed what is believed to be a daijōkyū constructed during the 8th century.