What a kamebara is
A kamebara, literally turtle belly, is a low rounded mound of earth at the foot of a building, sealed with white plaster or a similar finish. It fills the space between the stone platform and the underside of the floor, and gives a raised surface on which the base stones or sill beams are set.
The word has three uses, which the JAANUS dictionary lists together. The first is this foundation mound. The second is the white dome that rises above the lower roof of a tahoto pagoda, where the square lower storey turns into the round upper body. The third is the bun-shaped stone that receives the posts of certain shrine gates.
In the records it appears in descriptions of what a building stands on. The main hall of Nagata Shrine in Kobe, rebuilt in 1928, is described as standing on a kamebara over a dressed-stone platform, and the worship hall of Miyukinomori Tenjingu in Osaka, from 1930, as standing on a kamebara platform. Stone, mound and building sit one above the other.
What to look for
Look under the floor of a shrine hall. A white, curved band between the stone base and the floor all the way round is a kamebara, and under a raised veranda it is often plainly visible.
It need not be plaster. The Enbiki Tennosha at Myokyoji in Okayama, built in 1888, rests on a stone kamebara laid on cut-stone footings, with the sill beams above: the same shape carved in stone.
On a tahoto, the white kamebara sits on the square lower roof and the pagoda becomes circular above it; it is the most conspicuous part of the outline and is usually plastered. When writing about a pagoda's kamebara, make clear from context that it is not the foundation mound.
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Nagata Shrine Main Hall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002657
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Miyukinomori Tenjingu Worship Hall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001723
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Myokyoji Enbiki Tennosha
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007567
- JAANUS (Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System): kamebara
- https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/jaanus/record/kamebara
Last verified: 2026.10.04