Nakayama Shrine

Nakayama Shrine

Nakayama Shrine (中山神社) in Ichinomiya, Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture, is the ichinomiya, the leading shrine, of the old Mimasaka Province; its main hall of 1559 is an Important Cultural Property, and its worship and offering halls of 1922 are Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Okayama Prefecture).

According to the Okayama Prefecture tourism site, the shrine is said to have been founded in 707, its principal deity is Kagamitsukuri-no-Kami, and it is also known as a shrine of cattle and horses.

Three Designated Buildings

The main hall, 3 bays by 3, has a hip-and-gable roof entered at the gable end, with a one-bay cusped-gable porch, all roofed in cypress bark (Agency for Cultural Affairs). This form is called the nakayama style and is said to have served as the model for many shrine buildings in Mimasaka (Okayama Prefecture). It was designated on April 17, 1914, under the former law (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The worship and offering halls were built in 1922 to designs by Egawa Saburohachi and were registered on June 24, 2021 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Each building is described on its own page.

The Precinct

According to the Okayama Prefecture tourism site, the granite torii gate of 1791, about 11 metres high, is unusual in Japan for having no projecting beam ends on its pillars. The shrine gate was moved here from a four-legged gate of Tsuyama Castle, and several subsidiary shrines, including a monkey shrine, stand in the precinct.

Visiting

According to the Okayama Prefecture tourism site, the shrine is about 20 minutes by bus from JR Tsuyama Station, right by the bus stop, and about 15 minutes by car from the nearest interchange on the Chugoku Expressway; the car park holds 500 cars. Visitors are advised to check hours with the shrine.