Kenkun Shrine Main Hall

A Small East-Facing Sanctuary on the Summit of Mount Funaoka

Kenkun Shrine Main Hall (建勲神社本殿, Takeisao Jinja Honden) is a single-bay nagare-zukuri sanctuary facing east on the summit of Mount Funaoka in Kita-ku, Kyoto City; it was built at the foot of the hill in 1880, moved to its present site in 1910, and entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 18, 2008. It houses the deities of the shrine, Oda Nobunaga and his eldest son Nobutada.

Its footprint is 5.1 m², roughly the area of three tatami mats.

That figure means more beside its neighbours. The norito hall standing in front of it covers 7.1 m², the corridor linking the two 6.0 m², and the worship hall where visitors stand 18 m². Of the four buildings on the central axis of the summit, the one that holds the gods is the smallest, and each building grows larger as it gets closer to the public. The hierarchy of sanctity and the hierarchy of size run in opposite directions.

Why the Kenkun Shrine Main Hall Was Registered

Of the eleven registered structures at Kenkun Shrine, only the Main Hall and the worship hall were listed as models of design; the other nine were registered for their part in the landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Main Hall as a good example of a modern sanctuary of plain, clear design.

The form is Nagare-zukuri, the most widespread shrine type in Japan, in which the front slope of a gabled roof is drawn out far forward to shelter the steps. Here the front is a single bay wide. The core of the building, the moya, stands on round posts, while the porch, or Kōhai, rests on square posts with chamfered corners, so the change of section tells you where sanctuary ends and porch begins.

The bracketing is as spare as shrine architecture gets: a single boat-shaped bearing block, funahijiki, laid on top of each post to carry the beam, with none of the stacked blocks and arms found on grander halls. In the gable, two raking struts meet in an inverted V to support the ridge, an early device known as inokosasu. The eaves have two tiers of closely set Taruki rafters, except that one set of rafters is spaced wide, so the same eave shows both dense and open spacing.

A veranda with a railing wraps all four sides, and the front has wooden steps, a raised platform and a low outer deck. Everything a shrine sanctuary needs is present, each part made with the fewest possible members. That economy is what the registration recognised.

A Building Carried Up the Hill

The Kenkun Shrine Main Hall was not built where it stands. It was raised at the foot of Mount Funaoka in 1880 and, thirty years later, dismantled and re-erected on the summit along with the worship hall, the norito hall and the other core buildings. That is why its official record gives two dates.

On the summit it was set at the far western end of a straight east to west line of buildings, facing east. The lattice fence around it, 55 m long, was built new in the same year, 1910, so the move uphill came with a fresh enclosure.

The thing to look at is the line of the roof. Clad in Hiwadabuki cypress bark, it runs down from the ridge and out over the porch posts in one continuous sweep. From the front, sanctuary and porch sit under a single roof; from the side you see both the length of that sweep and the inverted V of the gable struts.

Seeing the Kenkun Shrine Main Hall

The Kenkun Shrine Main Hall stands inside its lattice fence, and ordinary visitors cannot go beyond the fence; the interior is not open. During a formal prayer ceremony conducted by a priest, participants pass through the inner gate to make an offering of a sacred branch. The shrine accepts these from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and asks that you telephone first.

From outside, stand in front of the worship hall and look west: the cypress-bark roof of the Main Hall rises behind the roof of the norito hall. Its side elevation can be glimpsed through the openings of the lattice fence. Because the hall faces east, the front is in sunlight in the morning.

The shrine's website does not prohibit personal photography, but drones and commercial shoots need permission. Directions to the shrine and general visiting conditions are covered on the Kenkun Shrine page.