Kenkun Shrine Norito Hall

A One-Bay Hall in Front of the Sanctuary

Kenkun Shrine Norito Hall (建勲神社祝詞舎, Takeisao Jinja Norito-sha) is a one-bay-square hall standing directly in front of the main hall 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. A norito hall is where priests recite norito, the formal prayers of Shinto, before the sanctuary during a ceremony.

It measures 1 bay by 1 bay, with a building area of 7.1 m². A pair of hinged doors is set in the front line of posts, and a gabled Hiwadabuki cypress-bark roof sits on top with its gable to the front.

One point on names. The Agency for Cultural Affairs registers it as the Norito Hall, but the shrine's own precinct guide calls the same building the Shinmon, or inner gate. The two descriptions are nearly word for word the same, so there is no doubt they refer to one structure. With its double doors, and standing where the enclosure around the main hall is entered, it works as a gate as far as the shrine is concerned.

Many Parts in a Small Frame

The Kenkun Shrine Norito Hall was registered, like eight other structures in the precinct, for its contribution to the historic landscape rather than as a model of design. Even so, for a structure of 7.1 m² it gathers an unusual variety of parts.

Its posts are round. Among the five buildings on or beside the central axis (main hall, worship hall, norito hall, corridor and purification pavilion), only the core of the main hall and the norito hall use round posts; the others stand on square ones. The building immediately in front of the sanctuary shares the sanctuary's post form.

Each post carries a boat-shaped bearing block, and the frame is tied by a head-height tie beam, a curved Kōryō rainbow beam and the wall plates. At the midpoint of the beam span sits a Kaerumata, the splayed "frog-leg" strut. Of the four buildings on the central axis, the norito hall is the only one whose official description mentions one. The gable uses two raking struts meeting in an inverted V, matching the main hall.

The roof has a gentle mukuri, a slight upward swell along its slope, and the eaves have a single tier of widely spaced rafters. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says the roof gives the building a calm expression. Next door, the worship hall's eaves flick upward; here the roof bulges softly outward, so two neighbouring buildings curve in opposite directions.

Looking Through the Worship Hall

The Kenkun Shrine Norito Hall stands between the worship hall and the main hall, joined to the main hall by a short covered corridor. It was carried up from the foot of the hill in 1910 together with those buildings and fitted into their straight east to west line.

From where visitors stand, the way to see it is from in front of the open-sided worship hall, looking west between its posts. The gable roof directly beyond is the norito hall, with the cypress-bark roof of the main hall showing behind. The swell of the roof is easier to read from an angle than head-on.

The gable struts and the double doors can be made out from the front. The kaerumata sits at the centre of the beam span, so look above eye level.

Visiting the Kenkun Shrine Norito Hall

Ordinary visitors cannot pass through the Kenkun Shrine Norito Hall; it is seen from in front of the worship hall. Those who book a formal prayer ceremony go inside the inner gate to offer a sacred branch. The shrine accepts these from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and asks that you telephone first.

The shrine's website does not forbid personal photography, but drones and commercial shoots require permission. The hall is in use during ceremonies, so a time without one is better for looking at the building. Directions to the shrine and general visiting conditions are covered on the Kenkun Shrine page.