Omoya

Originally, the central part of a residential building was called omoya.

After the introduction of Buddhism to Japan in the 6th century, moya has been used to denote the sacred central area of a temple building.

[2] The drawing shows the floor plan of a typical Zen main butsuden such as the one in the photo above at Enkaku-ji in Kamakura.

[3] Because the hisashi is covered by a pent roof of its own, the butsuden seems to have two stories, but in fact has only one.

This decorative pent roof which does not correspond to an internal vertical division is called mokoshi (裳階・裳層, also pronounced shōkai), literally "skirt story" or "cuff story".