Also kūden 空殿.
1 Also *zushi 厨子, an old term for a miniature shrine. A copied miniature shrine lodged within the inner sanctuary of a main shrine. Kyūden is also used to refer to a box-shaped container for a Buddhist sculpture placed on an altar *shumidan 須弥壇. The Tamamushi no zushi 玉虫厨子 was also called kyūden at the time it was made in the mid-7th century.
2 Today this term commonly applies to the containers used at Shinto shrines to house objects such as mirrors, swords, comma-shaped stones *magatama 勾玉, reproductions of the three sacred objects housed at Ise Jingū 伊勢神宮 in Mie Prefecture, bows, arrows, halberds, natural stones, etc. Very simple vessels contain paper strips called gohei 御幣 or heihaku 幣帛 which are folded in a special way. Some containers are in the shape of a simple shrine building. Examples: Otsuki Taisha Honden 小槻大社本殿 (1281), Shina Jinja Honden 志那神社本殿 (1298), both in Shiga Prefecture.