Outline and Table of Contents

• Introduction
 
• Shinto Architecture
• Raised above the ground
• Symmetrical Layout
• Limited Access
• Decorative Ridge-Poles (and "fillials")
• Varied axis-orientation
• Early Buddhist Architecture
 
• First temple, Makuharadera, made out of a home
• Following temples built specifically to house images recieved from Korea
• Nara period on follow Confucian symmetrical layout and geomancy
• Pagoda vital, either in symmetrical pairs or directly along the main axis
• North-south orientation, facing south
• Middle Buddhist Architecture
 
• Symmetry de-emphisized, sometimes dropped due to setting
• Pagoda marginalized
 
• Hosohoji the biggest ever built, but almost none follow it
• Classic 5-storied design varied
• Position in temple grounds less important, pushed off to one side
• Relic inside forgotten
• Relic sometimes replaced by esoteric 3-D mandala
• North-south orientation not exclusively followed
• Esoteric Buddhists construct 3-D mandalas at Toji, Byodoin, Sanjusangendo
• Late Buddhist Architecture
 
• 4 simultaneous "new" styles
 
• "Indian": South Chinese i.e. rebuilding of Todaiji
• "Chinese": Zen Style i.e. Nanzenji, Tofukuji, the Kamakura Go-Zan
• "Japanese": Extant style from the Nara and Heian periods
• Mixtures of the three
• #2 (The Zen or "Chinese") Style most important
• Gikai (Dogen's successor) goes to China to study Zen building methods
 
• Picks some things, ignores others
• Builds Engakuji at Kamakura
• Sanmon gates: i.e. Nanzenji, Tofukuji, Kamakura Go-Zan
• Symmetry-axis only for main buildings, if that
• Often north-south, but Nanzenji faces west and Kenchoji curves
• "Zen" art often incorporated: i.e. dragon painting on the ceiling at Tofukuji
• Later Variations
 
• "Temple building from Muromachi on presents almost no new phenomenon." However, gardens gain a new importance in the compounds.
• Gardens become important: i.e. Konchi-in added to Nanzenji
• Signifigant buildings are no longer temples but private pavillions in nice gardens: i.e. Ginkakuji and Kinkakuji
• Gardens later added to older temples such as Nanzenji and Tofukuji
• Conclusion