About Wayō

Wayō is a Buddhist architectural style developed in Japan before the Kamakura period (1185-1333), and is one of the important Buddhist architectural styles in Japan along with Daibutsuyō and the Zenshūyō, which were developed based on Chinese architectural styles from the Kamakura period. This style originated in the Asuka (538-710) and Nara period (710-794), when Japanese studied Buddhist architecture of the Tang dynasty, and was improved in the Heian period (794-1185) to suit the Japanese climate and aesthetic sense. After the Kamakura period, the Wayō developed into the Shin-wayō style by combining it with the Daibutsuyō, and further developed into the Setchūyō by combining it with the Zenshūyō, and pure Wayō architecture decreased.
Engaku-ji, a building with old-style katōmado

Japanese Buddhist architectonic solutions

Japanese Buddhist architecture is the architecture of Buddhist temples in Japan, consisting of locally developed variants of architectural styles born in China. After Buddhism arrived the continent via Three Kingdoms of Korea in the 6th century, an effort was initially made to reproduce original buildings as faithfully as possible, but gradually local versions of continental styles were developed both to meet Japanese tastes and to solve problems posed by local weather, which is more .