Juto Oido hall of the former Tenzuiji temple in late autumn: Sankei-en (Yokohama)

This Juto Oido hall (Ihaido hall) for sheltering a Buddhist memorial tablet, which was built during one's lifetime, was made in 1591 by the Shogun Hideyoshi Toyotomi to pray for the long and healthy life of his beloved mother who had recovered from an illness. 

Its Momoyama-style wood carvings (lotus flowers, glowing clouds, musical instruments and so on),  pillars and the various ornaments above them, which symbolized Buddhists' Pure Land, were once painted with heavenly colors. 

Its wooden doors are decorated with the carvings of Kalavinka. It is an imaginary creature in Buddhism, whose upper body is a human and lower body is a bird. This imaginary bird lives in the Pure Land  and keeps singing sweet notes to tell us of the paradise where all living things are purified and free from worldly desires.

Tenzui-ji Temple, where this small hall was located, was one of the minor temples within Daitoku-ji Temple in Kyoto. It was closed at the beginning of the Meiji period (1868-1912) and no longer exists.

This small beautiful hall was moved to Sankei-en in 1905 and was reconstructed as the first historic building in its inner garden by Sankei Hara to express his deep adoration for the culture in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (approx. 1558-1600) of Japan.