Egara Tenjin Shrine Main Hall

A Medieval Hall from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

The Egara Tenjin Shrine Main Hall (荏柄天神社本殿) is a three-bay nagare-style hall moved from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu of 1316 in Nikaido, Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on July 22, 2005 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a three-bay nagare-style hall with a copper roof, with 6 door panels designated alongside it; designation number 02463.

A Hall Moved from the Wakamiya

Egara Tenjin Shrine lies east of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and, by shrine tradition, was founded in 1104 to enshrine Sugawara no Michizane; records link it with the shogunate from the early Kamakura period (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Wakamiya, the lower shrine of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, burned in the great Kamakura fire of 1315 and was rebuilt in 1316, then maintained through the Middle Ages with no record of replacement. When the Wakamiya was rebuilt in 1624, its old main hall was moved here, so the present hall may date back to the fourteenth century (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Agency describes it as the only surviving example of a principal hall of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu dating back to the Muromachi period, large for a three-bay shrine and finely detailed inside and out, and designates it as an Important Cultural Property essential to understanding shrine architecture in medieval Kamakura.

What to Look For

Look for the large three-bay nagare form and details such as the coffered ceiling and horizontal lattices of the sanctuary (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

It is owned by Egara Tenjin Shrine (Agency for Cultural Affairs). No official information on visiting hours was found.