Rikyu Hachimangu Shrine Worship Hall

A Worship Hall with a Curved Gable

Rikyu Hachimangu Shrine Worship Hall (離宮八幡宮拝殿, Rikyū Hachimangū Haiden) is the 1928 hall of worship at Rikyu Hachimangu in Oyamazaki, Kyoto Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2013.

This is the building worshippers face when they pray. A single-storey timber structure with a copper-plate roof and a building area of 57 square metres, it stands behind the middle gate and in front of the main hall. A connecting heiden, or offering hall, projects from the center of the back, and short wings reach out on either side, so the plan is far from a simple rectangle.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives 1928 as the construction date; the shrine's own history records the rebuilding in 1929.

Why It Was Registered

The Rikyu Hachimangu Shrine Worship Hall was registered as a model of form. The Agency's description stresses its heavy proportions, known in Japanese carpentry as kiwari, and a design method that deliberately looks back to older practice.

The core is a hip-and-gable Irimoya-zukuri block, 3 bays by 2, fronted by a Kōhai porch under a karahafu, the curved gable that rises in the center and flips up at the ends. Wings 2 bays deep extend from the rear half of each side, and the offering hall joins the middle of the back. The posts carry funa-hijiki, simple boat-shaped brackets, in place of stacked bracket sets, and the eaves use two tiers of widely spaced Taruki rafters. Choosing the plainest possible bracket was a statement in itself.

Ceilings change with rank. The core has a coved coffered ceiling, oriage Gō-tenjō, while the wings and other parts leave the roof structure exposed as Keshō-yaneura.

What to Look For

The karahafu is the face of the Rikyu Hachimangu Shrine Worship Hall, visible even through the middle gate, its central swell and upturned ends set a step below the big hipped roof behind.

Look at the thickness of the posts and brackets. Where later builders pared timbers down to look delicate, these are frankly stout, and that is exactly what the Agency means by heavy proportions.

Walk to the side and you can follow the wing back to the point where the lattice fence around the main hall joins the end of the worship hall's tsuridono, the linking bay. Worship hall, offering hall, main hall and fence form one continuous whole. The roofs were repaired in the Heisei-era renovation, which broke ground in 2009.

Visiting the Worship Hall

The Rikyu Hachimangu Shrine Worship Hall is where visitors pray, and you can approach its front freely. The interior is not generally open, so the coffered ceiling can be glimpsed only from outside. Ask at the shrine office about prayer services.

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.