Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine Kagura Hall

What the Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine Kagura Hall is

The Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine Kagura Hall (續麻・今井（兼平）神社神楽殿, Tsūso Imai (Kanehira) Jinja Kaguraden) is a performance pavilion of 1853 in the precinct of Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine in Imai, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 31, 2022.

A kagura hall is the stage on which sacred music and dance are offered to the kami. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, this one stands just inside the torii, directly in front of the Tsusosha and the Kanehirasha, and serves as the ritual space before the main sanctuaries. Matsumoto City describes it as a stage at the center of the grounds and as an example of the open-sided kagura halls common in the area.

It is a one-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 53 square meters. The other three registered buildings are tiny sanctuaries of 1.5 to 4.4 square meters; the Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine Kagura Hall is the only one built to hold a gathering.

History of the Kagura Hall

Matsumoto City says the date is known from the building's style and its munafuda, the builders' ridge tablet. The hall originally belonged to Tsuso Shrine and was moved here when Tsuso Shrine and Imai (Kanehira) Shrine merged in 1947. The Agency's database records the 1947 move as fact, while the city says the move is handed down by tradition.

The roof was once thatched. The city believes it was changed from thatch to tile during the 1947 move, giving the hall its present appearance. Since the Tsusosha came from the same old grounds in the same year, one building from the former Tsuso Shrine now stands at the front of the precinct and another at the back.

Why the Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine Kagura Hall was registered

The Kagura Hall was registered in the 103rd round as number 20-0611, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. The Agency values it as part of the historic setting in front of the main sanctuaries, and Matsumoto City as a modest building that keeps its old appearance and shapes the character of the grounds.

The sources describe the roof differently. The Agency's database and its 2022 recommendation papers call it a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of interlocking pantiles, entered on the long side, while Matsumoto City calls it a hip-and-gable (irimoya) tiled roof. On site, look at the end walls: a gabled roof runs its triangle straight down to the eaves, while a hip-and-gable roof sets the triangle above a skirt of lower roof.

Structural details to look for

Watch how the horizontal members change from bay to bay. According to the Agency, deep sashi-gamoi lintels span the central bay at the front and the full width of the back, the western bay of the north side is left open, and the remaining bays are tied with slender nuki rails. A sashi-gamoi is a tall beam that lets a wide opening stand without extra posts, so placing them at the front center and across the back looks like a way of widening the stage where it faces the audience and where it gains depth.

Inside is a single board-floored room with no ceiling, so the roof framing is left fully exposed. One of the photographs the Agency chose at registration looks up at the gable end from inside, showing how beams and struts are assembled. Look up and you see the framework that once carried the thatch.

Seeing the Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine Kagura Hall

The Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine Kagura Hall stands just past the torii, in front of the worship hall, and is the first building you see on entering the grounds. A treasure house and the shrine office stand beside it. Because the hall is open-sided, the framing and the board floor can be seen from around it. Nothing says visitors may step up onto the floor, so it is best viewed from outside.

The hall is a stage for festival rites and comes into use at the autumn festival. Matsumoto City's materials say nothing about photography. Directions and visiting conditions for the precinct are on the Tsuso Imai (Kanehira) Shrine page.