Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine Banbei Screen

A Carved Stone Screen of 1937

The Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine Banbei Screen (上の島神明神社蕃塀) is a stone screen carved with a dragon, tigers and lions of 1937 in Kawashima Matsukuracho, Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on October 2, 2007 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a stone screen wall 3.8 metres long; registration number 21-0143.

A Richly Carved Screen

Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine in Kawashima Matsukuracho, Kakamigahara, has 7 registered structures built from the early Showa period to 1937: its main hall, offering hall, office, purification pavilion, torii, banbei screen and arched bridge (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The banbei screen stands at the centre of the grounds in front of the arched bridge, a stone screen of 1937 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Round main posts on a plinth carry a hip-and-gable roof, with lattice windows between them.

A dragon over waves is carved above and tigers and Chinese lions on the dado, and posts with onion-shaped caps brace it front and back. The Agency calls it an unusual banbei, large and richly carved. A banbei is a screen set before a shrine hall, common in the Owari and Mino regions.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape.

What to Look For

At the banbei screen, look for the dragon over waves above, the tigers and lions on the dado and the hip-and-gable roof (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

It is owned by the Shinmei Shrine religious corporation (Agency for Cultural Affairs). No official information on visiting was found. The main hall, offering hall, shrine office, purification pavilion, torii, banbei screen and arched bridge are introduced together on the Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine page.