Jodo Hall at Jodoji Temple
Kamakura period, constructed 1192
(Hyogo Prefecture)

This is the main building at Jodoji Temple in Hyogo Prefecture. Its construction was supervised by the monk Chogen, who was also responsible for the Kamakura period reconstruction of the Great Buddha Hall at Todaiji Temple, which had been destroyed by fire. In the center of the Jodo Hall is a circular platform supporting images of Amida Nyorai and two attendants in a pose of arriving from the Western Paradise of the Pure Land (saiho jodo) to welcome souls departing this earth. The hall's architectural style follows a style which was popular in Song dynasty China and which Chogen, after visiting China, introduced in Japan as a model for the reconstruction of the Great Buddha Hall at the Todaiji. The same type of construction techniques, which came to be known as daibutsu-yo, are seen in the Todaiji's reconstructed Southern Great Gate.