Administration hall
administration hall (kudō 庫堂, kusu 庫司, kuin 庫院)
Literally "granary," "storehouse," or "treasury" (ku 庫) "hall" (dō 堂), "office" (su 司), or "compound" (in 院). In Chinese Buddhist monasteries and the medieval Japanese Zen monasteries modeled after them, the administration hall was a large building that included the main kitchen facilities, stores of food and other supplies, and the offices of many monk administrators, including that of prior (tsūsu 都寺), comptroller (kansu 監寺), assistant comptroller (fūsu 副寺), head cook (tenzo 典座), and labor steward (shissui 直歳). The administration hall was located on the east side of the monastery, opposite the sangha hall (sōdō 僧堂), which stood on the west side. Those two buildings were the vital centers of the management wing and the practice wing of the monastery, respectively. In present day Japanese Zen, only the two Soto School head monasteries, Eiheiji and Sōjiji, have administration halls proper. All other monasteries and temples have a kitchen-residence (kuri 庫裡) instead, which evolved from the layout of the medieval abbot's quarters. "kitchen-residence," "abbot's quarters."
