A Muromachi Log Storehouse at the Water's Edge
The Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House is a small azekura log storehouse of the mid-Muromachi period at Miyajima-cho, Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, built between 1393 and 1466 and designated an Important Cultural Property on 18 February 1949.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the form in a single line: two bays by one, azekura construction, hipped roof, cypress bark. Two bays by one is very small, roughly the footprint of a garden shed, and the building reads that way from a distance. Up close the walls explain themselves. Azekura means the wall is built of timbers stacked horizontally and notched at the corners, each timber cut to a five-sided section rather than a rectangle, as Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education describes it, so that the projecting edge sheds rain clear of the joint.
Itsukushima Shrine describes the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House as a Muromachi-period azekura with a hipped roof of cypress bark, and states its former use plainly: it held the shrine's treasures and valuables. The building is a container, and it was designed for exactly one problem, which was keeping textiles, sutras and lacquer dry on an island in the Seto Inland Sea.
The Only Azekura Among Itsukushima's Designated Buildings
Log construction of this kind is uncommon in Japan and famous mainly through the Shosoin at Nara. Finding one on Miyajima, several centuries later and at a fraction of the scale, is what earns the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House its designation. Everything else standing on this precinct is post-and-beam framing with plank or plaster infill. This one building carries its own walls.
The designation of 18 February 1949 covers one structure, with a single Munafuda recorded as Tsuketari, attached property. The Agency for Cultural Affairs classifies it under pre-modern temple architecture rather than shrine architecture, a reminder that storehouses on shrine grounds were often built and administered by the Buddhist establishment that shared the site before the Meiji separation.
The prefecture counts only three azekura buildings in Hiroshima: this one, the storehouse of Kumano Shrine in Miyoshi and that of Take Shrine in Fuchu. It also records two documented repairs, by Mori Terumoto in 1588 and by Fukushima Masanori in 1610.
The date range given by the Agency, 1393 to 1466, is deliberately broad. There is no inscription fixing a year, and the attribution rests on construction detail. Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education places the building slightly earlier, in the early Muromachi period around the fourteenth century. That is worth knowing before reading confident dates elsewhere.
What Left the Building
For centuries the contents of the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House were the point of it. Itsukushima Shrine holds sutra scrolls, arms and armour, lacquerwork and musical instruments accumulated over eight hundred years of patronage, and this was where they sat. The prefecture names the Heike Nokyo sutra scrolls among the holdings kept here.
That ended in the 1930s. A purpose-built Treasure Hall was completed in April 1934 near the shrine exit, made of concrete finished in lacquer and white plaster with a copper roof, so that its exterior would sit alongside the timber buildings without clashing. Itsukushima Shrine notes that it was the first building in Japan to have lacquer applied over concrete for that purpose. The collection moved there and remains there, with part of it displayed on rotation.
So the storehouse is now empty, and empty is its permanent condition. Itsukushima Shrine states that it cannot be entered. Looking at the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House means looking at a wall, which sounds thin until you are standing in front of it and can count the courses and see how each log is scribed to the one below.
Seeing the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House
The storehouse stands on the shoreline east of the main shrine buildings, near the Tenjin Shrine and the corridor exit, and can be seen from outside without a ticket. Photography from the public path is unrestricted. The interior is closed and there is no interpretive signage inside.
It is easy to walk past. The Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House is low, unpainted where the other buildings are vermilion, and stands slightly back from the route most visitors follow between the shrine exit and Daiganji. Look for a small dark building with a bark roof and horizontally banded walls.
If you want to see what it used to hold, the Treasure Hall opens 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. all year, at 300 yen for adults, or 500 yen on a combined ticket with the shrine buildings. Reaching the island means a ferry from JR Miyajimaguchi Station or the Hiroden stop, about ten minutes, then roughly ten minutes on foot. Hatsukaichi City levies a Miyajima visitor tax of 100 yen per entry.
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Q&A
- Can you go inside the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House?
- No. Itsukushima Shrine states that the building cannot be entered. It is viewed from outside only, at no charge.
- Is the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House the same as the Treasure Hall?
- No. They are separate buildings with separate roles. The storehouse is a Muromachi log structure that held the collection historically; the Treasure Hall is a concrete museum completed in April 1934 that displays it today.
- What is azekura construction, as used in the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House?
- Walls built from horizontally stacked timbers notched together at the corners, with each timber shaped so its lower edge projects and sheds rain away from the joint. The walls are structural, so no separate posts and infill are needed.
- How old is the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the mid-Muromachi period, a range of 1393 to 1466, rather than a single year. No inscription fixes the date, so the attribution rests on construction detail.
- Where is the Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House on the precinct?
- On the shore near the corridor exit, set slightly back from the main visitor route. It is small, dark and unpainted, which is why it is often missed among the vermilion buildings.
- Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education, List of Nationally and Prefecturally Designated Cultural Properties (PDF)
- https://www.pref.hiroshima.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/640309.pdf
Basic Information
| Name | Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House (厳島神社宝蔵, Itsukushima Jinja Hozo) |
|---|---|
| Location | Miyajima-cho, Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property. Within the World Heritage site Itsukushima Shinto Shrine |
| Year Designated | 1949 (18 February) |
| Quantity | 1 building; 1 ridge tablet as attached property |
| Dimensions | Two bays by one, azekura log construction, hipped roof, cypress bark. Mid-Muromachi period, 1393 to 1466 |
| Owner | Itsukushima Shrine |
| Public Access | Exterior viewable free of charge. Interior closed. The Treasure Hall nearby opens 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., adults 300 yen. Miyajima visitor tax 100 yen |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/102/3183
- Cultural Heritage Online: Itsukushima Shrine Treasure House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/195840
- Itsukushima Shrine, Cultural Properties and Structures
- https://www.itsukushimajinja.jp/jp/culture.html
- Itsukushima Shrine, Opening Hours and Admission
- https://www.itsukushimajinja.jp/jp/admission.html
- Itsukushima Shrine, Access
- https://www.itsukushimajinja.jp/jp/access.html
- Hatsukaichi City, Outline of the Miyajima Visitor Tax
- https://www.city.hatsukaichi.hiroshima.jp/soshiki/110/59551.html
- Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education, List of Nationally and Prefecturally Designated Cultural Properties (PDF)
- https://www.pref.hiroshima.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/640309.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.08