Kotohira Shrine

What Does the "Kotohira Shrine" Designation Cover?

The Important Cultural Property "Kotohira Shrine" (金刀比羅宮, Kotohira-gū) is the designation for twelve shrine buildings in the summit precinct at step 785 of Kotohira Shrine in Kotohira Town, Kagawa Prefecture, centered on the Main Shrine completed in 1878, and it was designated an Important Cultural Property on August 15, 2024.

At its core is the Main Shrine (Hongū), a linked group of sanctuary, intermediate hall and worship hall whose frame went up in 1877 and which received the deity the following year. Beyond a long corridor stands the Betsugū, a second shrine with the same three-part plan, and each shrine has its own offering hall and attendants' room. The corridor itself, the purification hall, the kagura dance hall, the shrine kitchen and two storehouses complete the set. All twelve belong to Kotohira Shrine.

Other buildings on the mountain are designated separately: the Omoteshoin and Four-Legged Gate, the Okushoin and the Asahi no Yashiro. This page covers only the twelve at the top of the stairway.

The Twelve Buildings of Kotohira Shrine and Their Dates

Dates and forms below follow the Agency for Cultural Affairs database; floor areas are rounded down to the square meter.

• Main Shrine sanctuary, intermediate hall and worship hall: 1877. The worship hall covers 142 m² under a hip-and-gable roof with dormer gables front and back and cusped gables on the sides and front
• Main Shrine offering hall: 1875
• Main Shrine attendants' room: 1878
• Betsugū sanctuary, intermediate hall and worship hall: 1875. The sanctuary is in the kasuga-zukuri form
• Betsugū offering hall: 1875
• Betsugū attendants' room: 1875
• Purification hall (Batsujoden): 1878, 41 m²
• South Corridor (Minami Watadono): 1878, 72 m²
• Kagura hall: 1878, moved to its present site in 2003
• Shrine kitchen (Gosuisha): 1874, tiled gable roof
• Portable shrine storehouse: a plastered storehouse of 1761, moved here in 1874
• Treasure storehouse: a two-storey plastered storehouse of 1857, moved here in the early Meiji era

Nine of the twelve are roofed in Hiwadabuki cypress bark; the kitchen and the two storehouses have clay tiles. The storehouses are the oldest of the group, Edo-period buildings brought up the mountain when the precinct was reorganized.

Why the Twelve Buildings Were Designated

Before the Meiji era, Kotohira Shrine was Konpira Daigongen, a site steeped in Buddhist practice. When the separation of Shinto and Buddhism forced it to drop that title and start again as a shrine, the summit precinct was rebuilt to match its new organization. These twelve buildings are the result.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out the Main Shrine: Buddhist color was stripped away in favor of plain unpainted wood, the walls and ceilings were decorated with gold lacquer applied directly on the wood grain, and the details are distinctive. Floors and ceilings rise step by step toward the sanctuary, and the stacked gables of the roof give the complex a solemn, high-ranking presence. The Betsugū follows close behind in rank, with the same offering hall and attendants' room.

The layout is unusual too. A long corridor joining the two shrines is rarely seen elsewhere, and with the kagura hall, kitchen and other buildings it creates a fine shrine landscape. The Agency rates the group highly for showing how the precinct was reshaped by the separation of Shinto and Buddhism, and the designation cites both design excellence and historical value.

The shrine describes the style its predecessors arrived at after removing Buddhist elements: all-cypress unpainted construction combined with the circled "kin" crest, decorative metal fittings and lacquer ornament.

What to Look For at the Kotohira Shrine Main Shrine

At the top of the Gozen Yondanzaka steps, the worship hall of the Main Shrine stands directly ahead. Unpainted cypress pillars and a bark roof layered with dormer gables and a cusped front gable announce its rank even from outside. Behind the worship hall the intermediate hall and sanctuary follow, their roofs stepping back one after another.

From the Main Shrine the South Corridor runs on to the Betsugū. Its 72 m² of low, double-pitched roof are the thread that ties the twelve buildings into one precinct. The open ground in front of the Main Shrine doubles as a viewpoint across the Sanuki Plain toward the Seto Ohashi Bridge and the cone-shaped hill called Sanuki Fuji.

Visiting the Twelve Buildings of Kotohira Shrine

The twelve buildings stand around the Main Shrine and can be seen from outside at no charge during worship hours. The Main Shrine is at step 785, 251 meters above sea level; above the Asahi no Yashiro, the route passes the Sakaki Gate and climbs the 133 steps of Gozen Yondanzaka. Worship takes place in front of the worship hall.

The sanctuary and intermediate hall sit behind the worship hall, and the gold lacquer decoration is inside, so what visitors see is mainly the roofs and eaves. The summit is crowded on festival days, especially during the grand festival of October 9 to 11. Directions and general shrine hours are on the Kotohira Shrine page.