Tomobayashi no Uji Shrine Main Hall

A Large Kasuga-Style Main Hall Three Bays Wide

Tomobayashi no Uji Shrine Main Hall (伴林氏神社本殿, Tomobayashi-no-uji-no-jinja Honden) is the 1940 sanctuary at the north end of Tomobayashi no Uji Shrine in Hayashi 3-chome, Fujiidera City, Osaka Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on June 29, 2022. It is a single-story timber building with a copper-sheet roof and a building area of 35 square meters.

The hall follows the Kasuga-zukuri type, in which the gable end forms the front and a small roofed porch, the Kōhai, projects in front of it. Most Kasuga-style halls are only one bay wide. Here the front is stretched to three bays, and a gabled bargeboard crowns the porch roof. That width is why the Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a large modern main hall.

The Agency dates the building to 1940. The shrine records that the deities were formally installed in it on May 26, 1941. The hall was refurbished in 1961.

Why the Main Hall Was Registered

Tomobayashi no Uji Shrine Main Hall is registration number 27-0859 and was listed as a model of design. The Agency describes it as a dignified modern sanctuary of unpainted Taiwanese cypress, befitting a shrine rebuilt as the "Yasukuni of the West". Unpainted work of this kind is called Shiraki-zukuri.

Look closely and the carpentry is careful throughout. The eaves use two tiers of closely spaced rafters. A row of Katsuogi billets lies across the ridge, and the forked Chigi finials are fixed to the outside of the ridge-end plates rather than rising from the rafters.

The wooden steps in front are enclosed and joined to the offering hall, so the stair sits indoors. The sanctuary therefore reads as the inner end of one continuous run of worship hall, offering hall and main hall, not as a detached shrine.

Osaka Bunkazai Navi records that the roof was first covered with cypress bark and later re-covered with flat-seamed copper sheet; otherwise the hall is close to its original state.

What to Look For at the Main Hall

Start with the roofline of Tomobayashi no Uji Shrine Main Hall. The billets on the ridge and the chigi set against the outside of the end plates give the building its silhouette, and they are what you can see most clearly from outside the fence.

Then notice the wood itself. With no paint, the color of the Taiwanese cypress is the finish. Morning light from the south brings out the grain best.

Because the front is tied into the offering hall, the three-bay facade is hard to see head-on. Looking at the side through the lattice wall shows how the gable, the porch and its bargeboard fit together.

Visiting the Main Hall

The Tomobayashi no Uji Shrine Main Hall stands inside the sacred enclosure formed by the lattice wall, and visitors cannot go in. Osaka Bunkazai Navi lists the interior as closed to the public.

Viewing is from outside the wall. From the front of the worship hall only part of the roof shows, so walk to the east or west side and look through the lattice at the flank of the building; the rear can be seen from in front of the gate on the north side. The shrine publishes no photography rules, but avoid photographing during ceremonies. Directions and hours are on the Tomobayashi no Uji Shrine page.