kondō 金堂

Lit. golden hall. The name given to the principal hall housing the most sacred images at Buddhist temples from the Asuka through the Heian periods. The word 'gold' is derived perhaps from the idea of equating the preciousness of the metal with the reverence felt for the gilded deities enshrined. The sculpture of Buddha, called kinjin 金人 (golden person), suggests another basis for the origin of the name kondō. It is also thought that the interior of the Kondō at Hōryūji 法隆寺 (rebuilt 693) in Nara was intended to have been covered with gold leaf. It is a true two-storied structure with a central core *moya 母屋, that is 3 × 2 bays, surrounded by aisles, *hisashi 廂, 5×4 bays 1-bay deep, and an enclosed pent roof structure, *mokoshi 裳階, 1-bay deep. Thus, the building is a total of 9 × 7 bays, 18.52 m × 15.20 m. The upper story is also 3 × 2 bays and has no mokoshi. Deep eaves are possible because they are supported by cloud-shaped bracket complexes, *kumohijiki 雲肘木. The rafters over the moya rise at a rather steep angle from where they are attached to the eave rafters. The roof is hip-and-gable, *irimoya-zukuri 入母屋造. Because the kondō is small, laymen were not allowed to enter the sacred hall. Thus, it was customary for worshippers to stand outside the main hall to pray. The kondō and pagoda, *tō 塔, were placed together within an enclosure of surrounding corridors *kairō 回廊. During the 8th century, a kondō often faced the middle gate, *chūmon 中門. The corridors started from the middle gate and were attached to each side of the kondō. Pagodas began to be erected outside the walls of surrounding corridors, creating more space to increase the size of the kondō. One example is the Tōshōdaiji Kondō 唐招提寺金堂, which is 7 × 4 bays, 27.92 m × 14.62 m. The front bay is open. Originally corridors were attached to each side of the open, front bays. The central Kondō at Kōfukuji 興福寺 in Nara faced an empty area completely enclosed by corridors that stretched from the middle gate. These corridors were attached to each side of the two front bays of the main Kondō. Some temples including Kōfukuji, also had east and west Kondō completely outside the main precinct. At Tōdaiji 東大寺 (8th century) in Nara the present Kondō, known as the Daibutsuden 大仏殿, was rebuilt 1190 and again in 1705, placed the Kondō within an enclosure in line with the gate centered on the south corridor, Minamichūmon 南中門, and the gate centered on the north corridor, Kitachūmon 北中門. Two pagodas were located on the east and west sides, outside the most sacred precinct. The word kondō still can be noted even as late as the Edo period, but its use diminished radically after the Heian period, generally being replaced by the term *hondō 本堂, meaning main hall.