What the Offering Preparation Hall Is
The Izumo Daijingu Shrine Offering Preparation Hall (出雲大神宮神饌所, Izumo Daijingū Shinsensho) in Chitose-cho, Kameoka City, Kyoto Prefecture, is a building for preparing ritual food offerings, completed in 1908 and registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on February 4, 2021.
Shinsen are the food and drink presented to the deity each day and at festivals. The hall is single-storey timber with a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) sheet-iron roof, 60 square meters in area and 10 meters long.
It stands west of the middle gate, running north to south, so that offerings can be made ready right beside the sanctuary.
Why It Was Registered
The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the Izumo Daijingu offering preparation hall a neatly designed building that also provides a waiting room for priests. Its registration number is 26-0618, under the historic-landscape criterion.
When it was built in 1908, the previous offering hall of 1881 was taken down and re-erected east of the middle gate, where it serves today as the music pavilion. The present hall is therefore the second building to fill this role.
Three Rooms and a Well
Inside, the Izumo Daijingu offering preparation hall has three rooms. The southern room is a formal tatami room with an alcove (Tokonoma) and shelves, where priests wait. The northern room has a board floor and a well of its own, so water for washing and preparing offerings can be drawn indoors.
Outside, square posts carry simple boat-shaped bracket blocks (Funahijiki). A wooden panel door opens in the middle bay of the east front, and the transom above holds a lattice of clustered diamonds, the building's one quiet ornament.
Seeing the Offering Preparation Hall
The Izumo Daijingu offering preparation hall is a working building for festival preparations and is not open inside. From the west side of the worship hall you can see the east front with its panel door and diamond lattice.
Access is covered on the Izumo Daijingu Shrine page.
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Q&A
- When was the Izumo Daijingu offering preparation hall built?
- In 1908. It was registered on February 4, 2021.
- What is the Izumo Daijingu offering preparation hall used for?
- Preparing the food and drink offered to the deity; it also has a room where priests wait.
- What is inside the Izumo Daijingu offering preparation hall?
- Three rooms: a tatami room with alcove and shelves to the south and a board-floored kitchen with its own well to the north.
- How is the Izumo Daijingu offering preparation hall related to the music pavilion?
- When this hall was built in 1908, the older offering hall of 1881 was moved and became the music pavilion.
- Can visitors go inside the Izumo Daijingu offering preparation hall?
- No. It is seen from outside, west of the worship hall.
Basic Information
| Name | Izumo Daijingu Shrine Offering Preparation Hall (出雲大神宮神饌所) |
|---|---|
| Location | Chitose Izumo (no lot number), Chitose-cho, Kameoka City, Kyoto Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration No. 26-0618 |
| Year Designated | Registered February 4, 2021 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber, sheet-iron roof, building area 60 square meters, length 10 meters |
| Owner | Izumo Daijingu Religious Corporation |
| Public Access | Exterior only; interior closed |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Izumo Daijingu Offering Preparation Hall (Agency for Cultural Affairs, in Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013590
- Cultural Heritage Online: Izumo Daijingu Offering Preparation Hall (in Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/583873
- Izumo Daijingu (Kameoka City Tourism Association, in Japanese)
- https://www.kameoka.info/seeing/izumodaijingu.php
Last verified: 2026.09.27
