hondō 本堂

Lit. main hall. A Buddhist hall housing the principal images most revered by the particular sect of a temple. The use of the term hondō became prevalent after the rise of the new esoteric sects; Tendai 天台 and Shingon 真言 in the 9th cnentury. The term hondō is thought to have originated from the desire to avoid the use of the word *kondō 金堂, which was, at the time, associated with the six sects, rokushū 六宗, that had flourished in Nara in 6th-8th century. The hondō deviated from the plans of the kondō by establishing a less rigid arrangement. The interior became accessible to the devotee and a wore Japanese style was adopted. The natural timber buildings with cypress-bark shingled roofing *hiwadabuki 桧皮葺 had plank flooring either throughout the building or in the worship hall *gejin 外陣, in the front area inside the building, which allowed people to pray sitting on the floor in Japanese fashion. Some sanctuaries had a hard packed earthen floor *doma 土間, but others had plank flooring. The structure also had a hidden roof *noyane 野屋根, which was first used over the aisles *hisashi 廂, in Hōryūji *Daikōdō 法隆寺大講堂 (rebuilt 994) in Nara. By the end of the Heian period, many buildings besides the hondō had hidden-roof structures obscured by the installation of ceilings *tenjō 天井. Sliding lattice screens to separate the worship area from the sanctuary became universal in the hondō of esoteric temples. Examples: Taimadera 当麻寺 Hondō (*Mandaradō 曼荼羅堂; 1161) in Nara ; Chōjuji 長寿寺 Hondō (13th century) in Shiga Prefecture ; Myōtsūji 明通寺 Hondō (1258) in Fukui Prefecture ; Takisanji 滝山寺 Hondō (14c) in Aichi Prefecture ; Chikurinji 竹林寺 Hondō (1469-1487) in Kouchi Prefecture ; Enryakuji 延暦寺 *Konpon chūdō 根本中堂 (1640) in Shiga Prefecture, retained the doma style flooring and hard-packed earthen floor in the sacred area, and plank flooring in the worship space.