User:Urashimataro/Garan

Loss of importance of the pagoda within the garan
Because of the relics of Buddha they enshrined, pagodas used to be the centerpiece of the garan, the seven edifices considered indispensable for a temple. They gradually lost of importance and were replaced by the kondō (golden hall), because of the magic powers believed to lie within the images it housed. This loss was so complete that the Zen sects, which arrived late in Japan, normally do not use a pagoda at all for their temples. The layout of four temples clearly illustrates this trend: they are in chronological order Asuka-dera, Shitennō-ji, Hōryū-ji, and Yakushi-ji. . In the first, the pagoda was at the very center of the garan surrounded by three small kondō. In the second, a single kondō is at the center of the temple and the pagoda lies in front of it. At Hōryū-ji, they are one next to the other. Yakushi-ji has a single, large kondō at the center with two pagodas on the sides. The same evolution can be observed in Buddhist temples in China.