Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate

The 1935 Front Gate on the Approach

The Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate (長田神社神門, Nagata Jinja Shinmon) is the 1935 gate standing on the approach at the front of Nagata Shrine in Higashimachi 1-chome, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, facing west; it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 November 2018. It is a copper-roofed Yakuimon with an opening 3.3 metres wide.

This is the front gate of the precinct, the first one worshippers pass through. According to the shrine it is built entirely of hinoki and was donated by Ueda Kitarō. It gave the precinct its formal entrance eleven years after the shrine moved to this site in 1924.

A Yakuimon Without Doors

The Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate is registration number 31-0251, listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a plain but bold front gate, all of hinoki, that gives the front of the precinct a solemn firmness despite its sparse ornament.

A yakuimon has a gabled roof carried on two main posts, which normally hold the doors, and two shorter support posts behind them. What the Agency calls unusual here is that there are no doors and the main posts are round. On a yakuimon the main posts exist, in the first place, to carry the doors. With the posts rounded and the doors left out, the gate stops being a barrier and becomes more like a frame for the approach.

The frame is of heavy timber, and the eaves are a single layer of rafters with plain battens over them. Above them sits a roof with deep overhangs, giving the gate a low, broad mass.

What to Look For at the Shinmon Gate

Stand in front of the Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate and look first at the thickness of the posts. Two round hinoki columns flank the path, and the gate's dignity comes from the sheer amount of timber rather than from carving.

Then look up at the eaves. They reach out far enough that the roof seems to settle over you as you pass under it. With so little decoration, the rafters and battens of the soffit show the carpentry plainly.

Walk through and turn round, and the point of leaving out the doors becomes clear. The opening frames the view back down the approach, taking in the prayer hall and purification pavilion that face each other just outside.

Visiting the Shinmon Gate

The Nagata Shrine Shinmon Gate is the entrance to the precinct and, having no doors, has no stated closing time. Worshippers pass through it on the way to the heihaiden, and it can be viewed freely from either side.

Ordinary souvenir photography is allowed. Since the gate stands on the approach itself, take care not to block other visitors while you shoot. Directions and general visiting information are on the Nagata Shrine page.