Horyuji, for instance, had a gatehouse, kondo,pagoda,
and covered arcade connected to the gatehouse at its
core, as well as a south gate, lecture hall, monks’ dor-
mitories, sutra library, bell tower, refectory, and ad-
ministrative offices, and a separate precinct with an
octagonal hall dedicated to Prince SHOTOKU(574–621).
The Great Eastern Monastery in Nara (Todaiji) had
south and middle gates, its main Buddha hall, another
gate, a lecture hall, and monks’ quarters on the main
building line, and twin pagodas, halls for ceremonies
of the second and third moons of the year, an ordina-
tion hall, and a treasure repository located elsewhere.
None of these buildings was unique at Horyuji or
Todaiji. Monasteries could also include shrines to
monks or monk-founders, halls to individual buddhas
or bodhisattvas, gardens, bathhouses, and anything
else that offered full-service life and education to the
monastic and sometimes lay community. Coincident
with the move of the main capital to Heian (Kyoto) at
the end of the eighth century, esoteric Buddhist schools
rose in Japan. In contrast to monasteries of the Nara
capital, early Heian-period monasteries had smaller
buildings located in remote, often mountainous set-
tings. Not only were the clergy kept distant from court
affairs, the new mountain monasteries were primarily
for esoteric Buddhist schools, especially Tendai and
Shingon, which had been transmitted to Japan from
China at the turn of the ninth century.Although monastery structures in the middle part
of the Heian period remained small in comparison to
their Nara counterparts, decoration became lavish. The
change corresponded to the surge in PURELANDBUD-
DHISM, whose monasteries often included a re-creation
of the Buddha’s paradise, or Pure Land, in the form of
a hall with lotus pond in front of it. The PHOENIXHALL
(AT THEBYODOIN) in Uji, once the residence of one of
Japan’s wealthiest families, and the Golden Hall of
Chusonji in Hiraizumi are typical Fujiwara-period
(951–1086) monastery buildings.By the end of the Heian period, however, monas-
teries that were much less ornate became popular.
Single-bay square halls dedicated to AMITABHA, Bud-
dha of the Western Paradise, were common. AustereMONASTICARCHITECTUREThe Phoenix Hall, at the Byodoin, Kyoto, Japan. Built in 1053, it was intended as a three-dimensional representation of the Sukhavatl
Pure Land—the Western Paradise—of Amitabha. © Sakamoto Photo Research Laboratory/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.