Nagata Shrine Middle Gate

A Gate Built New for the 1924 Move

The Nagata Shrine Middle Gate (長田神社中門, Nagata Jinja Chūmon) is the gate set in the centre front of the lattice fence around the main hall of Nagata Shrine in Higashimachi 1-chome, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture; it was built new when the shrine moved to this site in 1924 and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 November 2018. It has a gabled copper roof with the gable end facing forward, the arrangement called Tsumairi, and an opening 2.4 metres wide.

It stands immediately behind the heihaiden, the combined worship and offering hall. Tottori Prefecture picks out this sequence as the key to the shrine's layout: the heihaiden placed in front of the main hall, with the middle gate joining the two. The gate is the hinge between them.

Traces of the Meiji Standard Plans

The Nagata Shrine Middle Gate is registration number 31-0248, listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it shows the influence of the seigen zushiki, the standard designs for shrine buildings that the government set out in the Meiji period for officially ranked shrines and that shaped shrine construction across Japan for decades afterwards.

For the move in the 1920s, the shrine entrusted design and supervision to Sakatani Ryōnosuke, a shrine and temple architect employed by Nara Prefecture. While the Edo-period main hall and heihaiden were brought over from the old site, the gate linking them was drawn fresh to the standards of the day. In this one small structure, Edo carpentry and modern norms meet.

Four round posts stand on stone bases, tied by tie beams and Nageshi rails. A Kaerumata, the frog-leg strut, sits at the centre of the span, and Funahijiki brackets carry the beams and purlins. Inside is a coffered ceiling. The gable is finished with a simple inverted-V truss known as inoko-sasu, the eaves are single-layered, and the roof swells gently outward.

What to Look For at the Middle Gate

The first thing to notice on the Nagata Shrine Middle Gate is the roof curve. A roof with this kind of swell bulges slightly between ridge and eave, the opposite of the upswept curve of a karahafu. It reads best from the side.

At the gable end, look for the inverted-V truss that carries the ridge. It is a plain device, well suited to a gate with so little ornament, which makes the kaerumata in the middle of the span, one of the few carved pieces, all the more worth finding.

According to the shrine, the gate holds a pair of latticed board doors and is built into the fence. Its lattice and the fence slats sit in the same plane, closing off the front of the main hall as a single band of screening.

Visiting the Middle Gate

Because the Nagata Shrine Middle Gate stands behind the heihaiden, it is hard to see from the front of the shrine. Walk round outside the lattice fence to see its roof and posts from the side. Visitors cannot pass through it into the enclosure, and Tottori Prefecture lists the inner area as closed.

Ordinary souvenir photography is allowed; follow the priests' instructions during prayers and weddings. Directions and general visiting information are on the Nagata Shrine page.