Nagata Shrine Offering Hall

The gabled hall linking sanctuary and worship hall

Nagata Shrine Offering Hall (長田神社幣殿, Nagata Jinja Heiden) is a 1928 gabled building between the main hall and 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 Kirizuma-zukuri roof and a building area of 18 square meters.

A heiden is where offerings are presented to the deity; it bridges the sanctuary and the hall where worshippers pray. The Nagata Shrine Offering Hall was rebuilt together with the main and worship halls after the 1924 fire.

Why the Nagata Shrine Offering Hall was registered

Registered as a model of form under number 28-0077, the Nagata Shrine Offering Hall interests the Agency for Cultural Affairs mainly because it departs on purpose from the main hall behind it. Its ridge runs north to south, at right angles to the main hall's. It is two bays long (13 shaku 5 sun) and one bay deep (14 shaku 4 sun). Where the main hall has round pillars and simple three-bearing brackets, the offering hall has square pillars and projecting Demitsudo brackets, with carved Kaerumata struts between them. Its rafters are widely spaced rather than packed tight.

The long sides are fitted with Shitomido, latticed shutters hinged at the top that swing up to open. Closed, they read as walls; raised, they open the space between the worship hall and the sanctuary for ceremonies.

What to look for at the Nagata Shrine Offering Hall

The hall is tucked behind the worship hall, so look up from the worship hall's front steps: the gable end of the Nagata Shrine Offering Hall appears above the worship hall roof, with the main hall's roof stacked behind it. That overlap is the easiest way to see the right-angle turn of the ridge. Seen from the side, near the subsidiary shrines, the three roofs step back one after another, with the offering hall as a compact link between the ornate worship hall and the conservative sanctuary.

Visiting the Nagata Shrine Offering Hall

The Nagata Shrine Offering Hall is used for rituals and is closed inside. Visitors pray from in front of the worship hall; those who book a prayer ritual and are taken up into the worship hall see the offering hall continuing behind it. Access and general visiting details are on the Nagata Shrine page.