Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate

A new gate for the replanned precinct

Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate (長田神社神門, Nagata Jinja Shinmon) is the 1928 gate south of the worship hall of Nagata Shrine in Nagatacho, Nagata Ward, Kobe, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on February 14, 2002. It is a copper-roofed Kirizuma-zukuri gate of the Hakkyakumon type, three bays wide with all three open as passageways, and 7.1 meters across.

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate was a new addition when the precinct was reorganized after the fire of 1924. It stands on a stone retaining wall in a single line with the corridors, side gate and talisman office, at the center of the boundary between the outer grounds and the inner precinct.

Why the Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate was registered

Registered as a model of form under number 28-0088, the gate follows the hakkyakumon, or eight-legged gate, plan: four main pillars on the gate's center line, each with a supporting post in front and behind, eight in all. Here the main pillars are round and the supporting posts square, the rafters are double and widely spaced, and the whole is lacquered red with gilt metal fittings at the joints.

The Agency calls it a work showing the design traits of early Showa shrine architecture associated with the Home Ministry, which then oversaw Japan's shrines. It carries the design idiom of official shrine buildings of that era. The shrine records that its roof was replaced and the paint renewed in 1980, along with the corridors.

What to look for at the Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate

Stand in front of the Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate and look through it to the worship hall: the two are not quite in line. The Agency notes that the gate is turned slightly off the axis of the worship hall. As you pass through, compare the thick round main pillars on either side of the central passage with the square posts in front of and behind them, and look at the gilt fittings where pillars meet beams. From a distance, notice how the gate's taller roof stands out from the low line of buildings along the stone wall, marking the way in.

Visiting the Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate

The gate is the everyday entrance to the inner grounds, and visitors walk through it to reach the worship hall; the exterior can be viewed freely. Stone steps lead up to it, and for car blessings the shrine asks drivers to pull up on the paving just before the steps. Just inside on the right is the counter for prayer bookings and amulets. Access and general visiting details are on the Nagata Shrine page.