Nagata Shrine Lattice Fence

A 41-Metre Screen Around the Main Hall

The Nagata Shrine Lattice Fence (長田神社透塀, Nagata Jinja Sukibei) is the timber, copper-roofed fence enclosing the main hall of Nagata Shrine in Higashimachi 1-chome, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture; the Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to 1932, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 November 2018. It runs for 41 metres, with the middle gate at the centre of its front.

A Sukibei is a fence whose upper part is slatted or latticed so that the space inside can be glimpsed; shrines use it to mark off the sacred ground around the main hall. At Nagata Shrine the fence was put up some eight years after the main hall arrived on this site in 1924.

The shrine's history gives 1931 for its completion, a year earlier than the Agency, and records that it was donated by Ōmura Kyūbei.

Why the Lattice Fence Was Registered

The Nagata Shrine Lattice Fence is registration number 31-0249, listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency praises its finely made construction in good-quality hinoki cypress and says it lends real dignity to the setting of the main hall. Tottori Prefecture makes the same point about the fence giving the area round the main hall its formal character.

It is easiest to read from the ground up. The base is three courses of cut stone. On it stands a lower wall of vertical boards with battens over the joints. Two horizontal rails, one at the top of the lower wall and one higher up, run the full length, and above the lower wall the screen is made of boards set on edge, each one diamond-shaped in section. The roof is carried on brackets projecting from the posts, giving deep eaves.

The shrine describes it as an elaborate piece of work built entirely of hinoki. A fence is meant to divide space, but the Nagata Shrine Lattice Fence was clearly made to be looked at in its own right.

What to Look For at the Lattice Fence

Go close to the Nagata Shrine Lattice Fence and look along the slats at an angle. Because each board is diamond-shaped in section, head on you can see between them, but as you move sideways the gaps close up. How much of the main hall you can see depends on exactly where you stand.

Look down, too, at the three steps of cut stone. They lift the whole fence and set the ground inside a level above the rest of the precinct.

Walk the full circuit and the two horizontal rails never break, with the deep eaves casting a shadow above them. That run of straight lines sets off the curves of the main hall inside.

Visiting the Lattice Fence

The Nagata Shrine Lattice Fence is at the back of the precinct behind the heihaiden, and you can walk along its outside. The enclosure it guards is the area of the main hall, which visitors may not enter; Tottori Prefecture lists it as closed. You can still glimpse the main hall through the slats.

The shrine says it is carrying out repairs to the fence and other buildings to mark the centenary of the move, so parts may occasionally be hidden by scaffolding. Ordinary souvenir photography is allowed. Directions and general visiting information are on the Nagata Shrine page.