Kairō

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title: "Kairō" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["japanese-buddhist-architecture", "japanese-architectural-features", "shinto-architecture", "colonnades"] description: "Cloister-like part of a Japanese Buddhist temple" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairō" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Cloister-like part of a Japanese Buddhist temple ::

::data[format=table] | [[File:Yakushiji kairo.jpg|alt=Yakushu-ji|x200px]] | [[File:Kibitsu Jinja Corridor 03.JPG|alt=Kibitsu Jinja|x200px]] | |---|---| ::

Two examples of kairō Kairō, bu, sōrō or horō is the Japanese version of a cloister, a covered corridor originally built around the most sacred area of a Buddhist temple, a zone which contained the kondō and the tō. Nowadays it can be found also at Shinto shrines and at shinden-zukuri aristocratic residences.

The kairō and the rōmon were among the most important among the garan elements which appeared during the Heian period. The first surrounded the holiest part of the garan, while the second was its main exit. Neither was originally characteristic of Shinto shrines, but in time they often came to replace the traditional shrine surrounding fence called tamagaki. The earliest example of a kairō/rōmon complex can be found at Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū, a shrine now but a former shrine-temple. The rōmon is believed to have been built in 886, and the kairō roughly at the same time. Itsukushima Jinja is an example of the mature form of the complex.

Two types of kairō exist, one 1-bay wide and another 2-bay wide, the bay being the space between two pillars. The first is by far the most common.

Tanrō

The 1-bay wide type is supported by just two rows of pillars and is therefore called tanrō. Typical windows called renjimado (see gallery) let air and light in.

Fukurō

The 2-bay wide type is supported by three rows of pillars, is called fukurō and is divided in two identical corridors by a wall (see model in the gallery). Although it is known that several existed at major Buddhist temples, for example at Tōdai-ji, none is extant. Some fukurō survive however at Shinto shrines.

Gallery

File:Figure of Single Cloister.jpg|Drawing of a tanrō File:Figure of Double Cloister.jpg|Drawing of a fukurō File:Model of Double Cloister.jpg|Model of a fukurō File:Plan pf Yakushiji Temple.jpg|Plan of Yakushi-ji with the kairō surrounding the garan File:Iwashimizu Hachimangu4.jpg|Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū's fukurō and rōmon File:Isaniwa shrine kairou.jpg|External view of a kairō's wall with renjimado File:Two Niō who stand in the left (Ungyō) and right (Agyō) of the sanmon gate at Zentsū-ji in Zentsū-ji City Kagawa pref.jpg|View from the entrance of Zentsū-ji's kairō File:Hasedera Sakurai Nara pref06s4s4272.jpg|Internal view of Hase-dera's kairō

References

References

1. "Kairou". JAANUS.
2. (April 10, 1990). "Nihon Kenchiku-shi". Shōwa-dō.
3. On the subject of shrine-temple complexes, see the article ''[[Shinbutsu shūgō]]''.
4. "Fukurou". JAANUS.

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