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Concept
Shichidō garan
Summary
Shichidō garan is a Japanese Buddhist term indicating the seven halls composing the ideal Buddhist temple compound. This compound word is composed of shichidō, literally meaning "seven halls", and garan, meaning "temple". The term is often shortened to just garan. Which seven halls the term refers to varies, and 七堂 may be a misinterpretation of shitsudō, meaning "complete temple". In practice, shichidō garan often simply means a large temple with many buildings.
Garan in Japanese is an abbreviated form of the expression sōgya ranma, itself a transliteration of the Sanskrit saMghaaraama (सँघाराम), literally meaning "garden for monks". A Japanese garan was originally just a park where monks gathered together with their teacher, but the term later came to mean "Buddhist temple".
The word garan can be found in a record in Nihon Shoki dated 552, although no monastery of this time survives, so we don't know what they were like.
The compound word shichidō garan is found in a much more recent literature of Edo period, referring to a complex that had a complete set of buildings forming an ideal Buddhist temple.
A record dated 577 in the Nihon Shoki states that a mission including among others a temple architect and a Buddhist image maker was sent by King Seong of Baekje to Japan, with more Buddhist related artisans sent over in the following years. Excavations carried out between 1979-1980 on the temple site of Jeongnimsa in Buyeo, capital of Baekje from 538 to 663, revealed that the original temple was laid out in a typical north-to-south style with key buildings put on the center axis, which was an arrangement closely adhered to at Shitennō-ji in Ōsaka.
What is counted in the group of seven buildings, or shichidō, can vary greatly from temple to temple, from sect to sect, and from time to time. As mentioned above, shichidō garan could mean a complete temple or even simply a large temple complex.
According to a 13th-century text, "a garan is a temple with a kon-dō (main hall), a tō (pagoda), a kō-dō (lecture hall), a shōrō (belfry), a jiki-dō (refectory), a sōbō (monks' living quarters), and a kyōzō (scriptures deposit, library).
Official source
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