hokkedō 法華堂

Also called hokke sanmaidō 法華三昧堂.

1　A meditation hall based on a plan that allows circumambulation around a statue. The statue of the bodhisattva *Fugen 普賢 (Sk. Samantabhadra) is the most usual image around which the circumambulation is constructed, but the historical Buddha *Shaka 釈迦 (Sk. Sakyamuni) or *Amida 阿弥陀 may also be the main images. The purpose of walking continually around the statue is to concentrate on the Lotus Sutra Hokekyō 法華経 seeking ultimate truth. A particularly famous Hokkedō is the one at Tōdaiji 東大寺, Nara, popularly called the Sangatsudō 三月堂. However, the existing structure includes the original Hokkedō (mid-8th century) and the Raidō 礼堂, the worship hall for laymen, originally built in 1199, but connected to the Hokkedō in 1264. The entire structure is now 5 x 8 bays. The Hokkedō is 4 x 4 bays square: between this and the 5 x 2 bays raidō are 5 x 2 bays called *tsukuriai 造合, the place where the two downwardly inclined roofs are joined. The Hokkedō has a hipped roof *hōgyō-zukuri 宝形造 while the raidō has hip-and-gable roof *irimoya-zukuri 入母屋造. The entrance is on the gable end of the raidō. It is presumed that a separate building existed as a worship hall in the Nara period so that the two buildings were like a *narabidō 双堂 (two separate structures of equal length), but not of equal depth, placed one in front of the other.

2　An ossuary *nōkotsudō 納骨堂 for the remains of aristocrats.