oku-no-in 奥の院

A structure named for its location behind the main hall of a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine. Sometimes it is a considerable distance behind the shrine or temple or on top of the highest elevation behind the main buildings within the precincts, or in a cave. The structure is used to revere the founder of a temple or shrine or is dedicated to Buddha or a deity belonging to the Buddhist hierarchy *honjibutsu 本地仏, to a god or goddess of Shinto pantheon, or to great historical figures who were deified after death.
Examples: Mt. Kōya 高野 Oku-no-in 奥の院, enshrines the remains of *Kūkai 空海 (774-835), the founder of the Shingon 真言 sect; Sanbutsuji Oku-no-in *Nageiredō 三仏寺奥の院投入堂 (12th century) in Tottori Prefecture, dedicated to Zaō Gongen 蔵王權現; Nikkō Tōshōgū Oku-no-in 日光東照宮奥の院 in Tochigi Prefecture enshrines the remains of Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1542-1616), which are kept in a *hōtō 宝塔 (a small bronze circular pagoda).