Hondō
The Hondō is the main ritual hall of the temple complex, built in 1639 for ceremonial functions. The building follows the typical layout of an abbot’s quarters in a Zen temple: a large rectangle divided into six smaller rooms by sliding panels. The southern facade opens onto a wide, covered veranda with views across the Ginshadan and Kinkyōchi Pond, with the Kannonden in the distance. A statue of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, is enshrined in the innermost, central room. This room has a vaulted ceiling with latticed wooden panels. The Hondō also contains memorial tablets for Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–1490) and his wife.
The sliding panels in four of the rooms feature ink paintings by celebrated eighteenth-century artists Yosa Buson (1716–1784) and Ike no Taiga (1723–1776). Buson and Taiga specialized in Nanga painting, a school of Japanese art from the late Edo period (1603–1867) originally based on paintings by Chinese literati, and usually depicting birds, flowers and landscapes of China.