Also Taimadera *Hondō 当麻寺本堂. Mandaradō literally means a hall housing Buddhist paintings or diagrammatic illustrations *mandara 曼荼羅. Although many temple halls, especially those of Esoteric Buddhism mikkyō 密教, contain mandara of many kinds and could therefore be called mandaradō, the term is actually used to refer to one specific location: the main hall of Taimadera in Nara. This hall houses a very large mandara (394.8 × 396.9 cm) depicting the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss of *Amida 阿弥陀. The mandara is kept in a large, shallow upright case in the sanctuary *naijin 内陣. The present Mandaradō (1161) at Taimadera is 7 × 6 bays (21.01 × 17.96 m), with an additional 3 × 1 bays, akadana 閼伽棚, added during the Kamakura period. Peripheral verandas *hisashi 廂, along each side divided into small rooms. The hipped roof *yosemune-zukuri 寄棟造, is covered with tiles *hongawara 本瓦. The bracket complexes are the simple 3-on-1, non-projecting type *hiramitsudo 平三斗, and centered between them are struts capped with bearing blocks *kentozuka 間斗束. The original structure was a simple 5 × 2 bay core *moya 母屋, completely surrounded by a 1-bay-wide corridor, making the exterior 7 × 1 bays. An extension *magobisashi 孫廂 was added in the early Heian period increasing the floor space to 7 × 5 bays. A hipped roof was constructed over an area that was 7 × 4 bays dating from the Nara period but this did not extend over the magobisashi, which is believed to have been covered by an ordinary sloping roof. During the 12th century, the six pillars that marked the boundary of the magobisashi were changed to create a 5 × 2 bay worship hall or outer sanctuary *gejin 下陣. Peripheral corridors were built around the entire inner structure. In 1161, a massive hidden roof *noyane 野屋根 was erected over the entire building.
