Amenohinadori-no-Mikoto Shrine Heihaiden

The Worship Hall of a Hilltop Shrine

The Amenohinadori-no-Mikoto Shrine Heihaiden (天日名鳥命神社幣拝殿) is the offering and worship hall of a shrine of 1913 in Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on October 31, 2022 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber hall with a tiled roof and a building area of 28 square metres; registration number 31-0282.

The Worship Hall on the Hill

The Amenohinadori-no-Mikoto Shrine Heihaiden combines the worship hall and the offering hall of the hilltop shrine (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It has a tiled hip-and-gable roof entered at the gable end, a front porch under a hip-and-gable roof with a gently swelling gable, and a gabled offering hall projecting at the back.

The Tottori Prefecture Association of Shinto Shrines says the shrine moved to its present hilltop in 1913, and the hall dates from the same year (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes that the gable pendants, whose full-size drawings survive, are more traditional in design than the carving of the main hall, and that the hall shapes the historic setting of the precinct; it was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

What to Look For

Look for the layered gable pendants and the coffered ceiling of the porch (Agency for Cultural Affairs). A veranda runs round three sides, and the interior is a single room.

Visiting

According to the Tottori Prefecture Association of Shinto Shrines, the precinct is on a small hill at the south end of the village, reached by more than 100 stone steps. The annual festival is held on April 15 (or the nearest Sunday) with a kirin-jishi lion dance, and the autumn festival on October 1.