Aoba Shrine Middle Gate and Prayer Recitation Hall

A Gate and a Hall for Prayers

The Aoba Shrine Middle Gate and Prayer Recitation Hall (青葉神社中門及び祝詞舎) is the gate and prayer recitation hall in front of a main hall of 1927 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 the gate as timber with a copper-sheet roof, 3.6 metres wide, and the prayer recitation hall as timber with a copper-sheet roof and an area of 8.8 square metres; registration number 04-160.

A Gate in the Fence and a Hall Behind It

The Aoba Shrine Middle Gate and Prayer Recitation Hall consists of the middle gate set in the openwork fence in front of the main hall, and the prayer recitation hall (norito-sha) joined to the back of the gate with its ridge at right angles (Agency for Cultural Affairs). According to the shrine, both were built in 1927 after the main hall was finished, and the norito-sha is where prayers are offered to the deity.

The gate is a Shikyakumon, a four-legged gate, with a copper-sheet gabled roof, block-and-arm brackets, a Kaerumata frog-leg strut between them and a single layer of rafters (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The prayer recitation hall, also gabled and copper-roofed, is open on all sides; its ridge beam rests on bracket arms set on an inverted-V strut.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency calls the Aoba Shrine Middle Gate and Prayer Recitation Hall fine buildings that share their design with the main hall, and registered them as a model of design. Miyagi Prefecture also points to the details they share with the main hall.

What to Look For

Compare the frog-leg strut of the gate with those on the main hall's porch (Agency for Cultural Affairs); the same design vocabulary runs through both.

Because the prayer recitation hall has no walls, its simple framing, an inverted-V strut carrying bracket arms that hold the ridge beam, is in full view (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

The Aoba Shrine Middle Gate and Prayer Recitation Hall stand at the front of the fence enclosing the main hall, behind the worship hall. No official information on passing through the gate was found, so they are seen from outside the fence. Directions are on the Aoba Shrine page.