Munamochi-bashira

What munamochi-bashira are

A munamochi-bashira stands free outside the gable end and carries the ridge beam directly. It is separate from the posts that form the walls, and it takes the weight of the roof outside the building itself.

It belongs to Shinmei-zukuri. The main hall of Oka Shrine in Shiga Prefecture, from the early Meiji period, is described as a hall of that form three bays by two with free-standing posts of this kind. The word for free-standing marks their separation from the wall.

The main hall of Ubushina Shrine in Kagawa Prefecture, built in 1953, is described as having no veranda and as a proper hall of that form with these posts, billets and finials, preserving the old technique of setting posts directly into the ground. The posts are set that way too.

The hall at Tomobayashi Shrine in Osaka Prefecture, built in 1940, is described as built of unpainted timber with heavy members, its ridge posts standing upright without the inward lean often given to columns.

Where to look

Walk round to the gable end. A single heavy post standing a little clear of the wall at the centre of the triangle, its head meeting the ridge, is the feature, and being separate from the line of wall posts it can be read from outside.

These posts are treated as a mark of the form. Halls in Nagare-zukuri or the Kasuga form do not have them, and a record that names them is stating the grounds for its classification.

Posts set directly in the ground rot from below. The system of periodic rebuilding at Ise, the Shikinen sengū, belongs with that technique.