Abstract
Except for some head temples, the main hall of Buddhist temples of the Zen sect in the Edo period inherited the style from the houjyo (the reseption hall) of Zen temples in the middle ages. The plan of this houjyo was consisted of the front veranda and 6 straw-matted rooms which were arranged in two lines and three rows. But in the case of the main hall of Sodo Zen sect, it had a style of its own. Since the Keityo era (1596-1615), it had already the unfloored passageway in front of the veranda to connect the priests' living quaters and the hall for religious meditation, adding 2 rooms to 6 rooms at at its right hand, moreover it had two columns with masugumi (bracketings) on the front of the sanctuary since then. On and after the Keian era (1648-52), it has come to put two columns (i.e. the raigoubasira) with masugumi and the altar (i. e. the syumidan) in the center of sanctuary to lay the principal image. It has solemnly decorated the sanctuary and its front room with masugumi, and in some case the decorated beams have been used over the unfloored passageway and the front veranda.
