Kanda Shrine Subordinate Shrine Gonosha Main Hall

What the Gonosha Main Hall Is

The Kanda Shrine Subordinate Shrine Gonosha Main Hall (感田神社末社五之社本殿, Kanda Jinja Massha Gonosha Honden) is a miniature shrine hall built in 1860 at Kanda Shrine in Naka, Kaizuka City, Osaka Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 23 October 2008. Kaizuka City identifies it as the hall of the Kasuga shrine.

It stands at the west end of the shelter that holds three small shrines, just west of the central Sannosha hall, and has a building area of 0.49 square metres. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says it matches the Yonnosha hall on the east side in size and form, differing only somewhat in the carving on the porch.

One Half of a Matched Pair

The Kanda Shrine Subordinate Shrine Gonosha Main Hall was registered as a building that serves as a model of form. Inside the shelter the arrangement is symmetrical: the tile-roofed Sannosha in the middle, raised in rank, and the bark-roofed Yonnosha and Gonosha matched on either side.

Its parts are the same as its twin's. It is a one-bay Nagare-zukuri shrine with a railed veranda on three sides and a low deck at the front, round columns with bracket-and-bolster tops, double rafters on the front eave, and Kōryō tie beams with Taiheizuka struts in the gables. The roof is cypress bark, laid with a wide exposure.

Think of it as two shrines built from one drawing, with only the finishing carvings changed. Seeing how a carpenter of the 1860s varied a matched pair is the pleasure of this building.

What to Look For: Spot the Difference

The Agency records a pine and other motifs on the Yonnosha porch but does not say what is carved on the Gonosha. Stand in front of the shelter and look from one porch to the other to find out for yourself.

While you hunt for the difference, the similarities come into focus too: the height of the rails, the depth of the front deck, the number of courses in the bark roof. Checking how closely two 0.49-square-metre shrines agree is half the fun of standing here.

Visiting the Gonosha Main Hall

The Kanda Shrine Subordinate Shrine Gonosha Main Hall is at the west end of the shelter and is seen from the front of the shelter. There is no entry and no advertised special opening (checked 26 September 2026).

The carving is small, so step close to the front of the shelter to see it. No photography rules are published. Directions are on the Kanda Shrine page.