Miyukimori Tenjingu Shrine Main Hall

A Main Hall Raised to Be Seen Over the Fence

Miyukimori Tenjingu Shrine Main Hall (御幸森天神宮本殿, Miyukimori Tenjingū Honden) is the timber sanctuary built in 1930 at Miyukimori Tenjingu Shrine in Momodani, Ikuno-ku, Osaka City, and it was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on April 28, 2000. It houses the shrine's three deities, Emperor Nintoku, Sukunahikona and Oshisakahiko, and stands at the back of the enclosure formed by the lattice fence, north of the offering hall and worship hall.

The hall is a three-bay Nagare-zukuri, the most common form of Shinto sanctuary, in which the front slope of the roof sweeps down to shelter a shallow porch. Its footprint is only 15 square meters, yet the copper-sheathed (Dōban-buki) roof carries a triangular Chidori-hafu gable on its front slope and, just below it, a bowed Noki-karahafu at the eaves. Stacked like that, the two gables give a small building real presence.

Why the Main Hall Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs registered the Miyukimori Tenjingu Shrine Main Hall as number 27-0093 under the criterion of serving as a model of design, and its description starts with the bracketing. Over the inner sanctum, called the moya, the builders used Degumi brackets that step out one level from the wall line, and they filled the gap above with a curved Shirin panel. Over the front aisle, the Hisashi, they settled for plainer Mitsudo-gumi sets of three bearing blocks. The closer to the deity, the richer the joinery.

On both parts, the short bracket arms that carry the beams, sanehijiki, end in a scrolled profile taken from Daibutsuyō, the style imported from Song China for the rebuilding of Todaiji in the late 12th century. The agency also calls the frog-leg struts (Kaerumata) and carved beam ends (Kibana) archaic in form. The picture is of an early Showa building designed by someone who had studied medieval shrines closely.

The design is attributed to Yoshida Tanejiro of Nara. The agency records this only as tradition, and none of the primary sources consulted here says more about him.

What to Look for on the Main Hall

One line in the agency's description explains the whole building: the floor of the Miyukimori Tenjingu Shrine Main Hall was raised so that it could be seen over the lattice fence. Worshippers pray in front of the worship hall, with the offering hall and the fence between them and the sanctuary. Lifting the main hall lets everything from the brackets up show above the fence.

So look up and over the fence rather than straight ahead. From beside the worship hall, the chidori-hafu and the curved eave beneath it appear one above the other, and the contrast between the stepped-out brackets of the sanctum and the simpler blocks of the front aisle shows as a difference in how deep each part of the eaves projects.

The timber is Hinoki cypress left unpainted, a finish the agency notes for all three halls. The roof above it was reclad in 2006.

Visiting the Miyukimori Tenjingu Shrine Main Hall

The Miyukimori Tenjingu Shrine Main Hall is the shrine's sanctuary and is not open inside. The area within the lattice fence is not presented as a place for visitors either, so the hall is viewed from the grounds, over the fence. The shrine publishes no rule on photography; just keep out of the way of people praying at the worship hall.

The most important rite held in the main hall is the grand festival on October 16, which begins at 10:00 a.m. Directions and visiting conditions for the grounds are on the Miyukimori Tenjingu Shrine page.