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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
Mandaradō 曼荼羅堂 ✓

Also Taimadera *Hondō 当麻寺本堂. Mandaradō literally means a hall…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
mandokoro 政所

The administrative offices housed in the refectory of an ancient temple. During the Heian period, and continuing through the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Masodō 媽姐堂 ✓

1 A Chinese temple Sōfukuji 崇福寺 in Nagasaki prefecture, called Masodō, which enshrines a deity called…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
menzō 眠蔵

Also mendō 眠堂. Sleeping quarters for the head priest behind the main room at a subsidiary Zen temple *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
midō 御堂

1 Another name for a temple called Hōjōji 法成寺, built at the end of the tenth to beginning of the 11th…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
mieidō 御影堂 ✓

Lit. "image hall." Also called eidō 影堂, goeidō or goedō 御影堂. A temple hall explicitly assigned to…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
mirokudō 弥勒堂

A Buddhist hall dedicated to *Miroku 弥勒 (Sk: Maitreya), the compassionate bodhisattva of…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
moji-etō 文字絵塔

Sutras written in such a way that the characters form the image of a pagoda. One of the two methods is called moji…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures, Art History, Painting
momitō 籾塔

Lit. "unhulled rice pagoda." A small wooden votive pagoda carved with a knife. It is related to *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
monbansho 門番所

The quarters for the caretaker of the main gate of a Japanese temple. These may be attached to or near the main gate.

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Monjudō 文殊堂

A small Buddhist hall dedicated to the Bodhisattva of wisdom *Monju 文殊 (Sk. Manjusri) who usually is…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
muhōtō 無縫塔 ✓

Also written 無方塔. Also *kaisantō 開山塔 or *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
muryōjuin 無量寿院

1 A name given to the *amidadō 阿弥陀堂, a temple hall dedicated…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Nageiredō 投入堂 ✓

Also once known as Zaōdō 蔵王堂. The Nageiredō is a small building, constructed in the overhang style kake-zukuri 懸造,…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
naidō 内堂

Buddhist priests' living quarters. Higher-ranking priests had two rooms one behind the other. The inner room was called the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nanto shichidaiji 南都七大寺

Lit. "southern capital seven great temples." A generic expression in use by the 8th century referring to the seven great…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
narabidō 双堂 ✓

Also read sōdō. Twin buildings in the grounds of a Japanese temple that are of equal length, but not necessarily of…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
narabigura 双倉 ✓

Also read sōsō. Lit. "twin storehouses." Two storehouses of the same size placed so that the space between was the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nenbutsudō 念仏堂 ✓

A hall within the precinct of a Buddhist temple used for the purpose of training Buddhist monks to meditate on and recite…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Nigatsudō 二月堂 ✓

Lit. "second month hall." A temple widely known for its famous ancient festival called omizutori お水取り in March…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nijū butsudō 二重仏堂

A term that can be applied to any temple or shrine building etc., which has either a double roof, a skirting *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nikairō 二階廊

A second story corridor. A corridor of this type is thought to have first existed at Tōfukuji 東福寺, in Kyoto established in…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
niōdō 二王堂

A building or often a gate that enshrines the two guardian deities, protectors of Buddhism. They are generally placed at the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nishimuro 西室

West dormitory. In the 7th and 8th centuries, some temples had monk's quarters to the west of the lecture hall as well as…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nōkotsudō 納骨堂

1 A hall where cinerary urns are stored and human ashes are kept.
2 A building to house…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nōsashōtō 能作生塔

A miniature pagoda in a bowl or rotund bottle shape. The pagoda is made of gilt bronze *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures

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JAANUS is the on-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent.

Originally built by the Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation, it is now hosted and maintained by the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University