Imamiya Shrine Main Hall

The rebuilt main sanctuary of 1902

The Imamiya Shrine Main Hall (今宮神社本殿, Imamiya Jinja Honden) is the 1902 main sanctuary at the north end of Imamiya Shrine in Murasakino, Kita Ward, Kyoto City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2018/03/27. It houses the shrine's three principal deities, Okuninushi, Kotoshironushi and Kushinadahime, and stands beside the Ekijinja Main Hall to the west.

The earlier sanctuary burned in 1896. Its replacement, the present Imamiya Shrine Main Hall, was designed and built by Ito Heizaemon, according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, as were the offering hall, worship pavilion and corridors in front of it, all in the same year. It is registered as a model of design.

A gabled roof that reaches out

The hall is three bays wide and two deep, with a gabled roof in copper sheet and a one-bay canopy over the steps. A wooden veranda runs all the way round, closed at the rear corners by low side screens, and the outer sanctum is fronted by panelled double doors and hinged lattice shutters. The building area is 44 square metres.

What the Agency singles out is the roofline. The canopy is wide and deep, and the gable ends project well beyond the walls, so the whole roof seems to spread outward. It keeps the traditional form of a shrine hall while giving it a lighter, more graceful outline than many buildings of the period.

Gabled main halls are less common in Kyoto than the asymmetric nagare-zukuri type. Set beside the hip-and-gable roof of the Ekijinja hall next door, the Imamiya Shrine Main Hall makes the difference between the two sanctuaries easy to read.

What to look for, and visiting

The Imamiya Shrine Main Hall stands inside an inner sanctuary enclosed by earthen walls and corridors, and visitors cannot enter. Worship takes place at the pavilion in front, and from there the gabled roof and canopy are visible above the offering hall.

There are few spots from which the whole roof can be taken in, so watch for the edge of the canopy and the overhang of the gable ends showing above the offering hall. Opening hours and directions are on the Imamiya Shrine page.