Among the Buddhist remains in the ancient kingdom of Kucha is a peculiar kind of cave, known as the central pillar cave. Caves of this type are so numerous on the northern route of the Taklamakan that they outnumber the total of caves of the same type throughout the rest of the Buddhist world-clearly showing that this type of cave was a fundamental architecture of the region. Therefore, we name these caves “Kucha-type” central pillar caves. Previous studies have assumed that the Kucha-type central pillar cave was the missing link in the transmission of the Indian caityagṛha to the Northern-Central Chinese pagoda-type cave. In this paper, however, we argue that this was not the case. We compare Kizil Cave 171, a typical Kucha-type central pillar cave, to Yungang Cave 1, a typical pagoda-temple cave, from three different perspectives: architecture, layout of the décor, and iconographic program. We show that there was no direct influence between the two types and suggest that the Indian caityagṛha also had no bearing on the development of the Kucha-type central pillar cave. The paper instead proposes that the three areas developed three different architectural traditions of caves with an unexcavated core that did not directly influence one another. The lack of direct transmission can be attributed to the difference in religious belief and practices, as well as in local architectural traditions.