Rikyu Hachimangu Kotengu Shrine

A Small Shrine on the West Side

Rikyu Hachimangu Kotengu Shrine (離宮八幡宮高天宮神社, Rikyū Hachimangū Kōtengū Jinja) is a subsidiary shrine building of about 1928 within the grounds of Rikyu Hachimangu in Oyamazaki, Kyoto Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2013.

The name is written with characters meaning high, heaven and palace, and has nothing to do with the long-nosed tengu of folklore. With a building area of just 4.7 square metres, this single-storey timber shrine with a copper-plate roof is the smallest of the six registered structures. It stands off the main axis, toward the west side of the grounds, facing east.

Rikyu Hachimangu has many subsidiary shrines, but the Kotengu Shrine is the only one of them to be registered.

Why It Was Registered

The Rikyu Hachimangu Kotengu Shrine was registered as a model of form. The Agency for Cultural Affairs praises its deliberately plain, backward-looking design, which gives a tiny building real dignity.

It uses the same sangensha Nagare-zukuri form as the main hall, three bays wide with a long front roof slope. Despite its size it has a veranda all round and a hamayuka, a low wooden platform, at the foot of the front steps. The gables are framed with inokosasu, a pair of diagonal struts set in an inverted V on the tie beam. It is an old and very simple way to carry a ridge, and exposing it here is a conscious nod to the past.

At the center of the porch sits a Kaerumata, a frog-leg bracket, of an unusual design adapted from early examples. The same design appears on the worship hall, so a small shrine at the edge of the grounds and the building at the heart of worship share one ornament.

What to Look For

Go round to the side and look at the gable. With so few members, the inverted V of the inokosasu reads crisply and gives the little shrine a clean outline.

Then compare the porch kaerumata with the one on the worship hall. Both start from old models and change them rather than copy them.

The veranda and platform lift the shrine a step off the ground, which is much of why it looks so composed for its size.

Visiting the Kotengu Shrine

The Rikyu Hachimangu Kotengu Shrine stands on the west side of the grounds among several other small shrines, so check the shrine's site map before heading over. The interior is not open, but you can pray at the front and see the exterior from all round. Because it faces east, the front catches the morning light.

No published restriction on photographing the exterior could be found, but hold off during ceremonies and while others are praying, and follow any signs on site. Directions and general visiting conditions are covered on the Rikyu Hachimangu page.