Kanda Shrine East Gate

The Gate Beside the Food-Offering Hall

The Kanda Shrine East Gate (神田神社東門, Kanda Jinja Higashimon) is the reinforced-concrete gate of 1934 attached to the south side of the shinsenjo, on the east flank of the shrine buildings of Kanda Shrine (Kanda Myōjin) in Sotokanda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, and it was entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 19 September 2003. The opening is 1.8 metres wide, and a low fence 14 metres long bends away from it.

This is not an entrance in the way the Zuishinmon at the front of the precinct is. The Kanda Shrine East Gate fills the gap between the shinsenjo and the side of the worship hall; its job is to close the east face of the composite sanctuary.

Why the East Gate Was Registered

The Kanda Shrine East Gate is registration number 13-0155, listed under the criterion for structures that contribute to the historic landscape. In the Agency for Cultural Affairs' words, together with the worship hall and the shinsenjo it is essential to the composition of the front and side of the composite sanctuary.

Follow the official description and the parts fall into place. The gate joins the shinsenjo through a board fence styled like a side screen. On the outer side it stands on a raised base, and the second bay from the north serves as the doorway, hung with a pair of paneled doors of the kind known as Sankarado. Low fencing continues one bay to the north and, turning a right angle, five bays south to meet the flank of the worship hall. The Agency describes this fencing as the same type as the northern half of the complex, in other words the mizugaki fence around the main hall.

Gate and fence work as a single unit, linking the wall of the shinsenjo with the side of the worship hall without a break. Thanks to it, the worship hall, offering hall, main hall and shinsenjo read as one enclosed group.

What to Look For

From the front of the worship hall, walk to the right, eastward, and the Kanda Shrine East Gate comes into view. The doors deserve a close look: a frame of stiles and rails with panels set in, made as a pair of leaves meeting at the centre.

Then find the corner. South of the gate the fence turns ninety degrees and heads for the side of the worship hall, carrying the pattern of the mizugaki right up to it. North of the gate the board fence meets the shinsenjo, and gate and hall together form one continuous elevation.

The east side is also where the big roof of the worship hall, the small roof of the gate and the hip-and-gable of the shinsenjo stand at three different heights. Step back to take them in together and you see how much these supporting structures do to give the flank of the sanctuary its order.

Visiting the East Gate

The Kanda Shrine East Gate is seen from the grounds. The space behind it belongs to the enclosure around the halls, and there is no indication that visitors may pass through. Even with the doors shut, the gate and its fencing are easy to study from outside.

The shrine gives no photography rules specific to the gate. Directions and general visiting information are on the Kanda Shrine page.