Kasami Shrine Worship Hall

What is the Kasami Shrine Worship Hall?

The Kasami Shrine Worship Hall (加佐美神社拝殿, Kasami Jinja Haiden) in Sohara Furuichiba-cho, Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, is a shrine hall built in 1746 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on April 18, 2008.

A worship hall (haiden) is used for prayers and rites, and at Kasami Shrine it is the first building you reach from the approach. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Kasami Shrine Worship Hall stands south of the Main Hall and Offering Hall, one level lower, on a platform faced with stone. The single-storey timber building covers 79 square meters, the largest footprint of the three registered buildings in the grounds.

It has been worked on since. The Agency's database records repairs in 1819 and 1831. The Main Hall behind it dates from 1687, and the Offering Hall from 1910.

Why the Kasami Shrine Worship Hall was registered

The Kasami Shrine Worship Hall was entered in the 59th round of registration as number 21-0159, for its contribution to the historic landscape.

The roof is hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) and covered in pantiles (Sangawara-buki). The plan is five bays wide and two bays deep. The floor is boarded throughout, and the ceiling is made of boards held by thin battens (a saobuchi ceiling). Above the head-height tie beams the walls are timber panels; below them the hall is open on all four sides.

What the Agency points to is a single rainbow beam (Kōryō) over the central bay, front and back. Supported at both ends by bracket arms set into the posts, it is placed one step higher than the beams of the other bays. Some shrines have a split worship hall (wari-haiden), whose central bay is left as a passage straight through the building. The Agency reads this raised central beam as a trace of that type. The floor now runs right across, but the taller opening at the center still shows where the passage type left its mark.

What to look for at the Kasami Shrine Worship Hall

Coming up the approach, notice the stone platform first. The Worship Hall stands on it, one level below the Offering Hall and Main Hall.

Then look up at the central bay of the front. The rainbow beam sits higher than those of the neighboring bays, held at each end by short bracket arms projecting from the posts, which is why the middle opening is the tallest. The same beam appears at the back, so the line runs straight through the hall toward the Offering Hall.

Because the lower walls are open, the batten ceiling and board floor can be seen from outside. The thin battens holding the ceiling boards are easiest to pick out from the side bays.

Seeing the Kasami Shrine Worship Hall

The Kasami Shrine Worship Hall is the nearest building to the approach, and its exterior can be seen from there. With the lower walls open, you can also see through it to the front of the Offering Hall. Neither the shrine nor Kakamigahara City says if visitors may step up into the hall.

No published rules on photography were found. Please refrain from taking pictures when the hall is in use for prayers or ceremonies. The grounds are busy on the day of the annual festival in October. Directions and visiting information are on the Kasami Shrine page.