Takuhi Shrine Main Hall, Connecting Hall and Worship Hall

A Sailors' Shrine Built into the Rock

The Takuhi Shrine Main Hall, Connecting Hall and Worship Hall (焼火神社本殿・通殿・拝殿) is shrine buildings of 1673 to 1902 in Mita, Nishinoshima Town, Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on August 10, 1992 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records three buildings, the main hall, connecting hall and worship hall, designated together with a miniature shrine, a former inner-sanctuary door frame, seven ridge tablets, a sutra scroll, a document and a map; designation number 02272.

A Guardian of Sea Voyages

Takuhi Shrine stands in the southwest of Nishinoshima in the Dozen islands of Oki and is worshipped as a guardian of safe voyages (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Shimane Prefecture says it lies halfway up Mount Takuhi (451.7 metres), the highest point of the Dozen islands, and was long revered as Takuhi Gongen by sailors on the Sea of Japan.

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

For their layout built into the mountain rock and the unusual way the main hall was made, the three buildings were designated an Important Cultural Property on August 10, 1992 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Three Buildings Set into the Rock

The main hall, connecting hall and worship hall are distinctive for the way they are built into the rock face of the mountainside (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The main hall, built in 1732, is a one-bay nagare-style hall with a cusped gable over the front and a cusped gable roof on its east side. Unusually, its timbers were prepared by carpenters in Osaka and assembled on site by carpenters from Yonago.

The worship hall, built in 1673, is four bays by three under a hip-and-gable roof, entered at the gable end, with a cusped gable over its porch and an offering room on the west (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The connecting hall of 1902, with a cusped gable roof, links the main hall to the worship hall. All three are roofed in copper.

What to Look For

Notice how the three buildings hug the rock, and the cusped gables of the main and worship halls (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Shimane Prefecture says the surrounding forest of about 4 hectares was made a prefectural natural monument in 1970 as the sacred plant community of Takuhi Shrine.

Visiting

A Shimane Prefecture nature guide (written in 1997) says a car park lies halfway up Mount Takuhi, from which nature trails lead around the shrine. No official information on visiting hours was found.