Dō (architecture)

A miei-dō

Dō (堂) is a Japanese word for building. It is very often used in Japanese Buddhism as a suffix in the name of some of the many buildings that can be part of a Japanese temple compound. (Other endings, for example -den as in butsuden, exist.) The prefix can be the name of a deity associated with it (e.g. Yakushi-dō, a name customarily translated as "Yakushi Hall") or express the building's function within the temple's compound (e.g. hon-dō, or main hall).

Some words ending in -dō are Butsu-dō, hō-dō, hon-dō, jiki-dō, kaisan-dō, kō-dō, kon-dō, kyō-dō, mandara-dō, miei-dō, mi-dō, sō-dō, Yakushi-dō and zen-dō. With some exceptions, for example the words hondō, hokke-dō and kon-dō, these terms do not indicate any particular structure.

The suffix is used sometimes also in a lay context, as for example in the word shokudō (食堂, lit. food building, meaning restaurant or cafeteria).

A dō's size is measured in ken, where a ken is the interval between two pillars of a traditional-style building. A kon-dō for example is a 9x7 ken. The word is usually translated in English as "bay" and is better understood as an indication of proportions than as a unit of measurement.

Types

• Amida-dō (阿弥陀堂) - a building that enshrines a statue of Amida.
• daishi-dō (大師堂) - lit. "great master hall". A building dedicated to Kōbō Daishi (Shingon) or Dengyō Daishi (Tendai).
• hattō* (法堂) - lit. Dharma hall". A building dedicated to lectures by the chief priest on Buddhism's scriptures (the hō).
• hō-dō (法堂) - see hattō.
• hokke-dō* (法華堂) - lit. "Lotus Sūtra hall". In Tendai Buddhism, a hall whose layout allows walking around a statue for meditation. The purpose of walking is to concentrate on the Lotus Sũtra and seek the ultimate truth.
• hon-dō* (本堂) - lit. "main hall", it is the building that houses the most important statues and objects of cult. The term is thought to have evolved to avoid the term kon-dō used by six Nara sects (the Nanto Rokushū) for their main halls. Structurally similar, but its inner less strictly defined.
• jiki-dō* (食堂) - a monastery's refectory.
• kaisan-dō (開山堂) - founder's hall, usually at a Zen temple. Building enshrining a statue, portrait or memorial tablet of the founder of either the temple or the sect it belongs to. Jōdo sect temples often call it miei-dō.
• kō-dō* (講堂) - lecture hall of a non-Zen garan.
• kon-dō* (金堂) - lit. "golden hall", it is the main hall of a garan, housing the main object of worship. Unlike a butsuden, it is a true two-story building (although the second story may sometimes be missing) which measures 9x7 bays.
• kyō-dō (経堂) - see kyōzō.
• kyōzō (経蔵) - lit. "scriptures deposit". Repository of sūtras and books about the temple's history. Also called kyō–dō.
• mandara-dō (曼荼羅堂) - lit. "hall of mandalas", but the name is presently used only for Taimadera's Main Hall in Nara.
• miei-dō* (御影堂) - lit. "image hall". Building housing an image of the temple's founder, equivalent to a Zen sect's kaisan-dō.
• mi-dō (御堂) - a generic honorific term for a building which enshrines a sacred statue.
• rokkaku-dō (六角堂) - a hexagonal temple building. An example of this type of structure gives its nickname to Kyoto's Chōhō-ji, better known as Rokkaku-dō.
• shaka-dō (釈迦堂) - lit. Shakyamuni hall. A building enshrining a statue of Buddha.
• sō-dō* (僧堂) - lit. "monk hall". A building dedicated to the practice of zazen. It used to be dedicated to all kinds of activities, from eating to sleeping, centered on zazen.
• soshi-dō (祖師堂) - lit. "patriarchs hall". A building dedicated to the soshi, important teachers and priests.
• Yakushi-dō* (薬師堂) - a building that enshrines a statue of Yakushi Nyorai.
• zen-dō* (禅堂) - lit. "hall of Zen". The building where monks practice zazen, and one of the main structures of a Zen garan.