Shinchokokuji Temple Tutelary Deity Hall

What Is the Shinchokokuji Temple Tutelary Deity Hall?

Shinchokokuji Temple Tutelary Deity Hall (新長谷寺鎮守堂, Shinchōkoku-ji Chinjudō) is a late Muromachi shrine building in Hasederacho, Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan on 14 November 1953. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a three-bay Nagare-zukuri shrine roofed with Hiwadabuki cypress bark, and classifies it as a Shinto shrine rather than a Buddhist temple building.

A chinju is a guardian deity that protects a temple or a place. Building a shrine for that deity inside Buddhist grounds reflects Shinbutsu-shūgō, the long tradition of worshipping Shinto gods and Buddhas as one. That makes the Shinchokokuji Tutelary Deity Hall clearly different in character from the other seven designated buildings.

On the Agency's map the hall lies about 33 metres northeast of the main hall, the northernmost of the eight, toward the back of the precinct.

Why the Tutelary Deity Hall Matters

The value of the Shinchokokuji Temple Tutelary Deity Hall lies in its survival alongside the Buddhist halls: a late Muromachi guardian shrine from the same era as the temple buildings around it. It shares their cypress bark roofing, so the compound keeps a single material palette while this one building switches to shrine form. It was designated in 1953 with the Shaka Hall, the Amida Hall and the others.

"Three-bay" means the front is divided into three Ken bays. Many small shrines have just one bay at the front, so a three-bay front gives this building a noticeably broader face.

What to Look For at the Shinchokokuji Tutelary Deity Hall

The long, flowing front roof

Nagare-zukuri, the most widespread shrine style in Japan, takes a gabled roof and extends its front slope far forward so that it shelters the steps. The key feature of the Shinchokokuji Temple Tutelary Deity Hall is the lopsided profile you see from the side, with the front slope running out much longer than the back. It is hard to read head-on, so be sure to walk round to a side.

Shrine roof versus temple roofs

The Buddhist halls here have Irimoya-zukuri or Yosemune-zukuri roofs that slope to all four sides. This shrine roof slopes only front and back, leaving a plain triangular gable on each side. Here you can compare shrine and temple roof construction in the same bark roofing, only a few paces apart.

A place at the back of the compound

Its position northeast of the main hall, behind the Buddhist buildings, also tells a story. Read as a guardian enshrined at the rear of the temple, the short walk between the main hall and this shrine shows how the two faiths overlap at Shinchokokuji.

Visiting the Shinchokokuji Temple Tutelary Deity Hall

Walk about 30 metres northeast from the main hall to reach the building. To read the roof properly, look from both the front and a side. No published source mentions interior openings.

Photography is prohibited inside the outer gate. Directions and general rules are on the Shinchokokuji Temple page.