Shinryuji Temple Entrance and Tea Room

What Is Shinryuji Temple Entrance and Tea Room?

Shinryuji Temple Entrance and Tea Room (真龍寺玄関及び茶室, Shinryū-ji Genkan oyobi Chashitsu) is a building from the later Taisho period, between about 1919 and 1926, at Shinryuji Temple in Nagara, Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture, and was entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 31, 2022. It is a single-story timber structure with a tiled roof and a building area of 31 square meters.

Though registered as one building, it combines three parts. A connecting corridor runs between the Main Hall and the Kuri, the priests' living quarters. On its south side is an entrance porch under a karahafu, a gable with a curving, wave-shaped bargeboard; on its north side is a tea room under a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof. Gifu City lists the name in reverse order, as Tea Room and Entrance.

Why the Entrance and Tea Room Was Registered

The Shinryuji Temple Entrance and Tea Room was registered as a model of form. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a practical temple entrance combined with a space for receiving guests. Visitors were met here on their way to the Main Hall and could be served tea, and both roles were built into a corridor linking the public and private sides of the temple.

The dating rests on temple tradition and the building's weathering. In the mid-Showa period the tea room was altered; among other changes, its Nijiriguchi, the low crawl-in entrance on the north side, was replaced with a floor-level window.

A Four-and-a-Half-Mat Tea Room

The tea room of the Shinryuji Temple Entrance and Tea Room measures four and a half tatami mats. A Tokonoma alcove occupies the west wall, and beside it a round window, called an ensō, is cut into the wall. On the east side is a Mizuya, the preparation area where utensils are made ready for a tea gathering.

In a room built of square mats and straight posts, the round window adds a single curve, and Gifu City names it among the building's finer details.

A Sliding-Slat Window for Sensing Guests

The lower part of the wall between the tea room and the corridor is fitted with a musō-mado. This window pairs two screens of vertical slats, each slat spaced one slat-width from the next; the outer screen is fixed and the inner one slides sideways. Line the gaps up and sound and shadow pass through; slide it back and the slats overlap to close it.

The Agency explains that this window let the people in the tea room know when a visitor was coming. A host could sense a guest's footsteps and silhouette moving along the corridor from the entrance without leaving the room.

At the entrance, the curve of the karahafu dresses the front. The arched bargeboard gives the doorway the dignity expected of a temple entrance and greets guests on their way to the Main Hall.

Visiting the Shinryuji Temple Entrance and Tea Room

The Shinryuji Temple Entrance and Tea Room stands east of the Main Hall, and because its karahafu entrance faces south, the entrance front is easy to see from the grounds. The tea room is on the north side of the building; the Agency's photograph shows it from the northeast. This part of the temple adjoins the priests' quarters and is in daily use, so follow the temple's guidance on where you may go.

No public opening of the tea room or corridor is announced. If you would like to see the sliding-slat window or the round window up close, contact the temple in advance.