Also called *butsuma 仏間.
1 Small, private buildings or rooms used by noblemen to enshrine their own Buddhist images *butsuzō 仏像, and for their own personal spiritual edification. According to the Nihon shoki 日本書紀, an imperial edict of 686 stated that every domicile throughout Japan must create a hall or space wherein Buddhist statues and sutras were to be kept, honored, and worshipped. Appropriate memorial services were to be held to honor them. There are only two buildings extant that are presumed to been jibutsudō. One is the small building *Tōgudō 東求堂 (6.9 m × 6.9 m) at Jishōji 慈照寺 (Ginkakuji 銀閣寺, 1476) in Kyoto. The other is the *Onrindō 園林堂 at Katsura Rikyū 桂離宮 (17th century) jibutsudō.
Jishōji Tōgudō 慈照寺東求堂 (Kyoto)
2 A jibutsudō tea ceremony house, jibutsudō chashitsu 持仏堂茶室, had a simple interior, a miniature shrine and often a Buddhist statue.
3 Jibutsudō refers to the place where a family's Buddha is enshrined and the ancestral tablets are kept.