Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine Ema Hall

The Ema Hall of 1960 at the Shrine Entrance

Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine Ema Hall (石切劔箭神社絵馬殿, Emaden) is a 2-storey timber building of 1960 at the entrance of Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine in Higashiishikiri-cho, Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture, serving both as a hall for votive plaques and as a gate, and it was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 13, 2025.

Ema are the small wooden plaques people offer with their prayers, and an ema hall is where they are hung. This one has a copper roof and covers 83 square meters. It is the only postwar building of the four registered at the shrine that day, 29 years younger than the others, and it stands on a separate lot, 736 and others, rather than the 691 of the main hall.

Successor to a Burned Plaque Hall

The shrine's plaques once hung in an older plaque hall west of the sacred camphor tree, where the purification spot is now. It burned in 1954, and six years later the Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine Ema Hall went up in its place.

The designer was Ono Shinichi, Yoshida Tanejiro's pupil and the site supervisor when the main hall was built in 1931. The Agency for Cultural Affairs names him as the designer in its registration report.

The shrine says the hall was set on the axis between the torii and the main hall and planned to serve as a gate as well.

Why the Ema Hall Was Registered

It was registered as number 27-0945 as a model of design, and the agency describes it as an original design in the manner of a Rōmon, a two-storey gate.

It is laid out as a gate three bays wide with a single passage through the central bay, and four bays deep. That depth is unusual for a gate, and the shrine points it out as something rarely seen.

The roof is a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri ridge with a Hisashi pent roof running all the way around it, and at the center of the ridge stand a sword and an arrow. They are the tsurugi and ya of the shrine's name, set up on the roof for all to see.

Higashiosaka City describes the whole building as heavy-timbered, with an archaic feel.

What to Look for at the Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine Ema Hall

On the ground floor, votive plaques line both sides of the central bay, and statues of guardian deities are enshrined there. The shrine identifies them as the attendants who escorted Nigihayahi no Mikoto when he descended from heaven. The upper floor is a single room with a coffered Gō-tenjō ceiling and Nageshi rails around the walls.

To make out the sword and arrow, step back from the front and look up. The way the pent roof wraps the gable on all four sides also reads better from a distance.

Visiting the Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine Ema Hall

The Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine Ema Hall stands at the entrance, so you see its exterior and ground floor on the way in. The shrine gives no notice of the upper floor being opened. The grounds are open 24 hours.

Personal photography is fine. As this is the entrance, pick a spot that keeps the flow of people moving. Directions and hours are on the Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine page.