Aoba Shrine Former Megohime Shrine Protective Hall

A Small Hall in Front of the Worship Hall

The Aoba Shrine Former Megohime Shrine Protective Hall (青葉神社旧愛姫社鞘堂) is a protective hall of 1931 in Aoba Ward, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 29, 2019 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber hall roofed in copper sheet, with a building area of 6 square metres, moved and altered in the mid-Showa era; registration number 04-164.

A Small Protective Hall before the Worship Hall

The Aoba Shrine Former Megohime Shrine Protective Hall is a small hall standing in front of the worship hall, facing south (Agency for Cultural Affairs). A sayado, literally a sheath hall, is a building that encloses a small shrine to shelter it from the weather; as the name says, this one once housed the Megohime Shrine.

It is two bays by one under a copper-sheet hip-and-gable roof, entered at the gable end (Tsumairi), with Sankarado panelled doors at the front and slatted windows on the sides (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Inside, tatami lie under a coffered ceiling. It has block-and-arm brackets, an inverted-V strut in the gable and a single layer of widely spaced rafters.

The Agency dates the hall to 1931. Miyagi Prefecture's announcement at the time of the recommendation gives 1929, so the sources differ.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes that, small as it is, the Aoba Shrine Former Megohime Shrine Protective Hall carries carved patterns on its bracket ends and arms that match the main hall, and registered it as a model of design. Miyagi Prefecture makes the same point.

What to Look For

Compare the carved patterns on the bracket ends and arms with those of the main hall (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The hall covers only 6 square metres, yet the tatami interior and coffered ceiling show the same care.

Megohime (愛姫) is the same name as Date Masamune's wife. No official source was found on what the Megohime Shrine enshrined or how the hall came to its present site.

Visiting

The Aoba Shrine Former Megohime Shrine Protective Hall stands in front of the worship hall and can be seen from the approach. No official information on interior access was found. Directions are on the Aoba Shrine page.