Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall

What the Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall Is

The Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall (泉穴師神社摂社住吉神社本殿, Izumi Anashi Jinja Sessha Sumiyoshi Jinja Honden) is the hall of the Sumiyoshi auxiliary shrine at Izumianashi Shrine in Toyonaka, Izumiotsu City, Osaka Prefecture, built in 1273 in the Kamakura period and designated an Important Cultural Property on February 18, 1949.

It stands just west of the main hall. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a one-bay Kasuga-zukuri hall with a Noki-karahafu curved gable over the front eave, a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) roof at the back and cypress-bark roofing, the same form as the Kasuga Shrine hall on the east side. According to the shrine, it enshrines the three Sumiyoshi gods of the sea, Uwatsutsunoo, Nakatsutsunoo and Sokotsutsunoo, together with Okinagatarashihime, better known as Empress Jingu.

The evidence for its date is written on the building itself. Osaka Prefecture's list gives 1273 on the basis of an inscription on the Munagi ridge beam, and Osaka Bunkazai Navi notes that a Kamakura-period ridge beam marked with the tenth year of Bun'ei survives. The two sources describe the period differently: the Agency for Cultural Affairs says early Kamakura, Osaka Bunkazai Navi middle Kamakura.

Why the Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall Matters

Izumiotsu City describes the Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall as said to be the oldest shrine main hall in Osaka Prefecture, and the shrine calls it the oldest shrine building in the prefecture. Osaka Bunkazai Navi is more careful and places it among the oldest.

Its age is not the only point. Osaka Bunkazai Navi says that, despite later alterations, it is the earliest surviving example of a hall combining a karahafu over the eave with Degumi bracketing fitted with Shirin boards, and it ranks the hall as a particularly important shrine building. Taken at its word, the curved karahafu was already being added to the front of kasuga-zukuri halls by the late 13th century.

The two Munafuda included in the designation record re-roofing in 1650 and 1738, according to Osaka Prefecture's list. A Kamakura frame kept going through repeated care in the Edo period.

What to Look For at the Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall: Original and Replacement Parts

The best way to look at the Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall is to sort its original parts from later ones. Osaka Bunkazai Navi identifies as original the three bearing blocks of the linked Mitsudo-gumi bracket on the left of the front, along with the block on top of the tall Kaerumata brace.

The kaerumata set midway between the posts are replacements, some from the Muromachi period and some from the Keicho era around 1600. The beam across the front carries no molding or painted pattern. On one plain facade, then, you are looking at work from the Kamakura, Muromachi and Momoyama periods.

It is also worth comparing it with the Kasuga Shrine hall on the east side. The two share almost the same form and the same type of shirin, but where the Kasuga hall's kaerumata spread out into long chrysanthemum leaves, the front of the Sumiyoshi hall is restrained.

Visiting the Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall

The Izumianashi Shrine Auxiliary Sumiyoshi Shrine Main Hall stands west of the main hall, inside the Suzumon gate. According to the shrine, the gate opens on New Year's Day from midnight to 5:00 p.m., when visitors may pray at each hall inside; it is shut during the New Year rite. Access on other days is not published. You need to be close to tell the original blocks from the replacements. The interior is not open.

No photography rule is published; ask at the shrine office before taking pictures. Directions to the grounds and general visiting conditions are on the Izumianashi Shrine page.