Shichidà  garan is a Japanese Buddhist term indicating the seven halls composing the ideal Buddhist temple compound. This compound word is composed of , literally meaning "seven halls", and the abbreviated form of . The term is often shortened to just garan. Which seven halls the term refers to varies, and ä¸Âå  may be a misinterpretation of . In practice, shichidà  garan often simply means a large temple with many buildings.
A , also called , , and , is an abbreviation of the expression , itself a transliteration of . A garan was originally just a park where Japanese monks gathered together with their teacher, but the term later came to mean Buddhist temple.
The word garan appears in a record in the Nihon Shoki dated 552, although no monasteries of this time survive, so we don't know what they were like.
The compound word is found in a much more recent literature of Edo period, the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, 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 and 1980 on the temple site of Jeongnimsa in Buyeo, the 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 Shitennà Â-ji in à Âsaka.
What is counted in the group of seven buildings, or shichidà Â, can vary greatly from temple to temple, from sect to sect, and from time to time. As mentioned above, shichidà  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 hon-dà  (main hall), a tà  (pagoda), a kà Â-dà  (lecture hall), a shà Ârà  (belfry), a jiki-dà  (refectory), a sà Âbà  (monks' living quarters), and a kyà Âzà  (scriptures deposit, library)." These are the seven listed as shichidà  elements of a temple.
A 15th-century text describes how Zen school temples (Sà Âtà  (), Rinzai ()) included a butsuden or butsu-dà  (main hall), a hattà  (lecture hall), a kuin (kitchen/office), a sà Â-dà  (building dedicated to Zazen), a sanmon (main gate), a tà Âsu (toilet) and a yokushitsu (bath).
Because of the relics they contained, wooden pagodas used to be the centerpiece of the garan, the seven edifices considered indispensable for a temple. They gradually lost importance and were replaced by the kondà  (golden hall), because of the magic powers believed to lie within the images the building housed. This loss of status was so complete that the Zen sects, which arrived late in Japan from China, normally do not build any pagoda at all. The layout of four early temples clearly illustrates this trend: they are in chronological order Asuka-dera, Shitennà Â-ji, Hà Âryà «-ji, and Yakushi-ji. In the first, the pagoda was at the very center of the garan surrounded by three small kondà  (see the reconstruction of the temple's original layout). In the second, a single kondà  is at the center of the temple and the pagoda lies in front of it. At Hà Âryà «-ji, they are one next to the other. Yakushi-ji has a single, large kondà  at the center with two pagodas on the sides. The same evolution can be observed in Buddhist temples in China.
is a Buddhist temple of the "Shà Âtoku" sect in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its garan is composed of (see plan on the right):
A Chà «mon (ä¸ÂéÂÂ) <br /> In a temple, the gate after the naindaimon connected to a kairà Â
B Kairà  (Ã¥ÂÂå»Âã»廻å»Â) <br /> A long and roofed portico-like passage surrounding the kondà  and the pagoda.
C Kon-dà  (éÂÂå Â)<br /> The main hall of a garan, housing the main object of worship.
D TÃ Â<br /> A pagoda, which is an evolution of the stupa (a kind of reliquary) . After reaching China, the stupa evolved into a tower with an odd number of tiers (three, five, seven, nine, thirteen).
E Kà Âdà  (è¬Âå Â) <br /> The lecture hall of a non-Zen garan.
F Kyà Âzà  (çµÂèµ) <br /> Lit. "scriptures deposit". Repository of sà «tras and books about the temple's history. Also called kyà Âdà Â.
G Shà Ârà  (éÂÂ楼)<br /> A belfry
Zuiryà «-ji is a Zen temple of the Sà Âtà  sect in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture.
A Sà Âmon (ç·ÂéÂÂ)<br /> The gate at the entrance of a temple. It precedes the bigger and more important sanmon.
B Sanmon (ä¸Âé or å±±éÂÂ)<br /> The gate in front of the butsuden, most commonly having two stories (nijà «mon). The name is short for , lit. gate of the three liberations. Its openings (, and ) symbolize the three gates to enlightenment. Entering, one can symbolically free him or herself from the three passions of , , and .
C Kairà  (Ã¥ÂÂå»Â)<br /> See above
D Butsuden (ä»Â殿)<br /> Lit. "Hall of Buddha". A building enshrining the statue of Buddha or of a bodhisattva and dedicated to prayer.
E Hà Âdà  (æ³Âå Â)<br /> Lit. "Dharma hall". A building dedicated to lectures by the chief priest on Buddhism's scriptures (the hà Â).
F Zendà  (禠å Â)<br /> Lit. "hall of Zen". The building where monks practice zazen, and one of the main structures of a Zen garan.
G Shà Ârà  (éÂÂ楼)<br /> A belfry
H Kuri (庫è£Â)<br /> A building hosting the galleys, the kitchen, and the offices of a Zen garan.
Another typical Zen garan, of which Kenchà Â-ji's is a good example, begins with the sà Âmon followed by the sanmon, the main hall (the butsuden), the lecture hall (hattà Â), and the chief abbot's residence (hà Âjà Â) all aligned more or less on a north to south axis, with the bath house (yokushitsu) and the sà «tra repository (kyà Âzà Â) to its east, and the monks' hall (sodà Â) to its west.