What kasuga-zukuri is
Kasuga-zukuri is a shrine hall with a Kirizuma-zukuri body entered at the gable end and a Kōhai added across its front. The name comes from Kasuga Taisha in Nara.
A single bay is the norm. Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto has a hall recorded as single-bay in this form under Hiwadabuki. The main hall of Nidoji Shrine in Shiga Prefecture, built in 1703, is described as a single-bay hall of this form, dated from its form and its Munafuda, its body one bay square divided evenly between a Naijin and an outer area, roofed in cypress bark with a boxed ridge, and is called a good example of an early modern hall in a province where the form is uncommon.
Three bays also occur. The main hall of Tomobayashi Shrine in Osaka Prefecture, built in 1940, is described as a three-bay hall of this form with a gabled canopy, double rows of closely spaced Taruki, billets on the main ridge and Chigi outside the ridge boards, a large and formal modern hall in bare Taiwanese cypress.
Variants are recorded. The main hall of Junisha Shrine in Nara Prefecture, from the mid-Muromachi period, is recorded as a single-bay hall of this form with corner rafters, roofed in copper sheet.
Distinguished from the flowing gable
Nagare-zukuri also carries a canopy, but the body is entered differently. There the hall is entered from the eaves side and the front slope of the roof runs long and low to form the canopy. Here the hall is entered at the gable end and the canopy has a roof of its own.
Which side you enter decides it. In this form the triangular gable faces the front with the canopy before it; in the other the ridge runs across and one continuous slope covers the approach.
Shinmei-zukuri is also gabled but has no canopy and carries Munamochi-bashira. The three forms sort out by whether a canopy is present and which face is entered.
On site, look at the front. A triangular gable with a lower roof projecting before it is this form; a single slope running forward is the other.
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties (structures)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/kokuho_bunkazai.html
- National Cultural Properties Database: Fushimi Inari Taisha, a single-bay Kasuga-form hall under cypress bark
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/00004720
- National Cultural Properties Database: Nidoji Shrine Main Hall, one bay square divided evenly between inner and outer areas under a boxed ridge
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003248
- National Cultural Properties Database: Tomobayashi Shrine Main Hall, a large modern hall in bare Taiwanese cypress
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014268
- National Cultural Properties Database: Junisha Shrine Main Hall, a single-bay Kasuga-form hall with corner rafters
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/00005416
Last verified: 2026.09.11