oku-no-in　奥の院

KEY WORD :　architecture / buildings & structures

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. Kouya 高野 Oku-no-in 奥の院, enshrines the remains of *Kuukai 空海 (774-835), the founder of the Shingon 真言 sect ; Sanbutsuji Oku-no-in *Nageiredou 三仏寺奥の院投入堂 (12c) in Tottori prefecture, dedicated to Zaou Gongen 蔵王權現. Nikkou Toushouguu Oku-no-in 日光東照宮奥の院 in Tochigi oprefecture, enshrines the remains of Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1542-1616), which are kept in a *houtou 宝塔 (a small bronze circular pagoda).

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