Nagata Shrine East Gakujo (Music Pavilion)

A small music pavilion at the back of the worship hall

Nagata Shrine East Gakujo (Music Pavilion) (長田神社東楽所, Nagata Jinja Higashi Gakujo) is a 1928 pavilion at the rear east corner 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 has a copper Irimoya-zukuri roof and a building area of 16 square meters.

A gakujo is generally where the musicians who play gagaku court music during rituals wait and perform. Nagata Shrine has a matching pair, east and west; the shrine itself calls them the East and West Gakusha.

Why the Nagata Shrine East Gakujo was registered

Registered as a model of form under number 28-0079, the Nagata Shrine East Gakujo stands at the east end of the bay running across the back of the worship hall, on a stone platform set slightly lower than the hall's. It is two bays square, with its ridge running east to west.

Its openings show which way it faces. Slatted Renji-mado windows pierce the east and south walls, while the door is on the west, toward the worship hall. The bracketing is the plainest kind, a boat-shaped Funahijiki bearing block, and the rafters are single and widely spaced. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the building simple, but says it is one wing of the arrangement formed by the main, offering and worship halls.

What to look for at the Nagata Shrine East Gakujo

Walk around the east side of the worship hall and look at its rear corner: a smaller hip-and-gable roof sits low against the big roof. Because the pavilion's platform is a step lower, the roofline drops too, so the hierarchy between the two buildings is visible from outside. Compare the plain slatted windows here with the painted carvings on the worship hall's front and you see how the 1928 builders scaled decoration to a building's role. Just east of the Nagata Shrine East Gakujo, the small Tsukuyomi Shrine faces west.

Visiting the Nagata Shrine East Gakujo

The Nagata Shrine East Gakujo is closed inside, and you see it from the path on the east side of the worship hall. The lattice wall runs north from here to enclose the main hall, so you cannot go beyond the pavilion. Access may be restricted near the halls during ceremonies. Access and general visiting details are on the Nagata Shrine page.