Izumo Taisha Main Shrine

The Hall of 1744: The Largest Taisha-zukuri Standing

Izumo Taisha Main Shrine (出雲大社本殿, Izumo Taisha Honden) at Kizuki-higashi, Taisha-cho, Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture, was built in 1744, designated an Important Cultural Property on 7 April 1900, and raised to National Treasure status on 29 March 1952. The designation number is 00073 and the quantity is one building. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records its structure in a single line: taisha-zukuri, cypress bark roof.

Taisha-zukuri is regarded as the oldest form of Shinto shrine architecture in Japan, keeping much of the character of the raised-floor dwelling. The Agency describes the present hall as taisha-zukuri on a square plan, gabled and entered at the gable end, and calls it decidedly grand on the strength of its scale, its high floor and the thickness of its timbers. It is the largest taisha-zukuri sanctuary standing.

The height is eight jo, about 24 metres, and the column grid measures roughly 10.9 metres square. Where the shinmei-zukuri of Ise keeps a straight profile, the taisha-zukuri roof sweeps gently upward. Set the two side by side and the difference is immediate.

Nine Columns in a Grid, and a Deity Facing West

The interior is not open to the public, but its plan is published. Nine columns stand three by three on the square floor, dividing the space into a grid that maps onto the character for rice field. The thick column at the centre is the shin-no-mihashira, the sacred central pillar.

Between that pillar and the side column to the right as you face the building runs a plank wall, and behind it sits the inner sanctuary where the deity is seated. The building itself faces south; the seat of Okuninushi-no-Okami faces west. Two explanations are handed down, one citing the structural logic of the hall and one citing the guarding of the western quarter. Neither can be stated as settled.

An antechamber before the inner sanctuary holds the seats of five further deities against the plank wall: Ame-no-Tokotachi, Umashiashikabihikoji, Kamimusubi, Takamimusubi and Ame-no-Minakanushi. Near the central pillar stands the seat of Wakafutsunushi, a child deity of Okuninushi. The arrangement of the seats is inseparable from the structure of the building itself.

The Excavated Columns, and What the Records Claim

The Agency for Cultural Affairs closes its commentary with a careful sentence: according to historical records and tradition, the hall was taller still in antiquity.

Behind that line lies the excavation of the precinct carried out in 2000 and 2001. Archaeologists found the remains of a column formed from three great timbers bound with iron hoops, roughly 3 metres across. The arrangement matches the columns drawn in the Kanawa no Gozoei Sashizu, a plan of the ancient hall handed down in the Senge family, the hereditary priestly house of the shrine.

That drawing describes a hall of sixteen jo, about 48 metres. The excavation made the picture harder to dismiss as legend. It did not, however, prove that a 48-metre hall stood here, and the Agency has not dropped its qualifier. This article does not go further than the record does.

The excavated column remains are displayed at the Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo next to the shrine, together with a reconstruction based on the drawing. Visiting after seeing the hall makes the distance between the 24 metres in front of you and the 48 metres of tradition easier to feel.

Reading It from the Yatsuashi Gate

Fences enclose the hall, and an ordinary visit reaches only as far as the Yatsuashi gate. There is still plenty to read from there.

Start with the roof. The cypress bark surface curves gently toward the ridge, and from its ends the chigi finials cross and reach upward, over 7 metres long. Three katsuogi billets lie across the ridge, their copper sheathing catching the light.

Then the floor height. Taisha-zukuri descends from the raised-floor dwelling, and the floor sits well above the ground. Even from the gate the length of the stair is clear. Thick timbers and a high floor are exactly the features the Agency cites in calling the hall grand.

Look down at the paving in front of the gate. Circles set into the stone mark where the excavated columns stood, three circles clustered together reproducing the section of a bound column on the ground. They are easy to walk past, so check underfoot once you are square with the gate.

Auxiliary shrines and storehouses stand around the hall. These belong to a separate designation made on 6 July 2004 and include the tower gate, the Yatsuashi gate and the enclosing fences. They are not covered here.

Visiting

Entering the precinct is free. The main hall area is generally open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., or to 8:00 p.m. from March to October. The office issuing amulets and seals runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the Soga-no-yashiro area behind the hall also closes at 4:30 p.m. Times shift with the season and with events, so check the shrine's official site before travelling.

The interior of the hall is not open. Going inside the Yatsuashi gate requires arranging a formal visit. The treasure hall charges admission; consult the official site for the current fee and hours.

Photography in the precinct is not generally restricted, though it is worth asking at the shrine office about the area inside the fences and during rituals. Paved ramps serve wheelchair users, and the shrine office lends wheelchairs.

From JR Izumoshi Station the Ichibata bus reaches the Seimon-mae stop in around half an hour. From Izumo Taisha-mae Station on the Ichibata Electric Railway it is a ten-minute walk. The quietest time is the hour after opening at 6:00 a.m.; the precinct is busiest during Kamiarizuki in the tenth lunar month, Golden Week and the New Year period.