fugendō 普賢堂

Also called Shigatsudō 四月堂; *Sanmaidō 三昧堂. A Buddhist temple in which the main deity worshipped is *Fugen 普賢 (Sk: samantabhadra). One example is Tōdaiji Shigatsudō 東大寺四月堂 (also called Sanmaidō 三味堂, 1681) in Nara. It is 3 × 3 bays. Although originally it had a pyramidal roof, *hōgyō-zukuri 宝形造, it now has a double-storied roof, nijū 二重, but the building itself is single storied. The lower roof is over the aisles, *hisashi 廂, surrounding the core, *moya 母屋. The pillars, *hashira 柱, of the core are not in line with the hisashi pillars. The tie beams in the lower story are raking beams, i.e. ascending beams *noboribari 登梁, and head penetrating beams, *kashiranuki 頭貫. Inserted into the bearing blocks on top of the pillars are rainbow beams, *kōryō 虹梁. Both stories have large bearing blocks and bracket arms, *daito hijiki 大斗肘木, on top of pillars and in the interstices. The eaves are single eaves, *hitonoki 一軒. The upper roof is hipped, *yosemune-zukuri 寄棟造. Simple steps lead to the front entrance in the middle bay of the building. The structure is set on a stone podium. Each side has the same type of entrance as the front one, but the entrance at the rear wall is in the second bay. The rear wall is divided into four bays.