What a tamagaki is
Tamagaki is the general term for the fence that encloses a shrine's main sanctuary and marks off sacred ground. The JAANUS dictionary notes that timber is most common, though stone is also used, and that names such as unbarked-log, plank, squared-timber and vermilion fences reflect the material and the way the boards are set. Early fences had no roof; from the early modern period they grew more elaborate, with roofs, grilles between the posts and solid bases.
The registered examples vary widely. The tamagaki of Yahira Shrine in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture, from 1918, encloses the main hall on all four sides, five bays by four, under a pantiled roof sloping both ways, with a lattice door at the centre front and vertical boarding elsewhere. At Saguri Shrine in Kumiyama, Kyoto Prefecture, from the late Edo period, the front section is an open fence of square bars and the rear one of pointed boards, two forms used together.
Stone fences usually consist of stone posts linked by rails and capstones. At a shrine in Marugame, Kagawa Prefecture, a granite tamagaki of the late Edo period encloses the top of the burial mound that the shrine worships as its sacred object.
What to look for
A fence running round, or on three sides of, the main sanctuary is a tamagaki. It usually stands behind the worship hall where visitors do not enter, sometimes with a gate leading to the sanctuary.
A fence with an open upper section of bars or lattice is also called a sukibei, and a tamagaki may take that form. Use whichever name the record gives.
Some stone fences sit on top of retaining walls or flank stone steps. At the Akiba shrine of Hofukuji in Soja, Okayama Prefecture, from the mid-Meiji period, a stone tamagaki crowns the 3 m retaining wall along the south edge of the precinct. Give the material and length where the record states them.
References
- JAANUS (Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System): tamagaki
- https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/jaanus/record/tamagaki
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Yahira Shrine Tamagaki
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00009770
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Saguri Shrine Tamagaki
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009999
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: 讃留霊王神社玉垣 (Marugame, Kagawa)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00012247
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Hofukuji Akiba Shrine Stone Wall and Tamagaki
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007688
Last verified: 2026.10.04