mieidō 御影堂

Lit. "image hall." Also called eidō 影堂, goeidō or goedō 御影堂. A temple hall explicitly assigned to enshrine the portrait of the temple's founder. The character 御 is an honorific and can be read mi or go. Adding mi as an honorific indicates that the hall contains portraits and/or tablets of especially venerated personages. It may also enshrine the founder of a particular religious sect. These terms are used by the Jōdo 浄土 and Jōdoshin 浄土真 sects. In the Zen 禅 sect, this type of hall is called *kaisandō 開山堂, and in the Shingon 真言 sect, it is called *daishidō 大師堂.
Examples: Kyōōgokokuji Daishidō 教王護国寺大師堂 (also called Sai-in Goeidō 西院御影堂, 1380) in Kyoto; Murōji Mieidō 室生寺御影堂 (early 14th century) in Nara; Kongōji Miedō 金剛寺御影堂 (1606) in Osaka.