Nagata Shrine Shinsenjo (Temporary Hall)

A 1915 Service Hall Behind the Main Hall

The Nagata Shrine Shinsenjo (Temporary Hall) (長田神社神饌所（仮殿）, Nagata Jinja Shinsenjo (Kariden)) is a small 1915 building standing north of the main hall of Nagata Shrine in Higashimachi 1-chome, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, facing south; it was moved here from the former shrine site in 1924 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 November 2018. It is a single-storey timber building with a sheet-metal roof, covering 25 square metres.

A shinsenjo is where shinsen, the food offered to the deities, is prepared. The words "temporary hall" in the name reflect a second role: according to the shrine, when the main hall is under repair, the deity is moved into this building for the duration. The same small structure serves as the shrine's kitchen day to day and as a stand-in sanctuary when needed.

The shrine's history dates it to 1914, a year earlier than the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

A Shrine Building Laid Out Like a House

The Nagata Shrine Shinsenjo is registration number 31-0250, listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency values it as a building that conveys how a modern shrine precinct was organised.

It is two and a half bays long and one and a half deep under an hip-and-gable roof of sheet iron. An entrance sits towards the east end of the front, and a storeroom is added on the east side under a lean-to roof. Inside, a three-mat room opens off the entrance, the whole north wall is built-in cupboards, and the western half is an earth-floored work area with a kitchen door in the west wall.

Entrance, tatami room, cupboards, work floor, back door: the sequence reads less like a shrine building than a small dwelling. The plan appears designed so that preparing the offerings and storing the equipment could all be done in this one building. Where the main hall, heihaiden, middle gate and lattice fence form the ceremonial face of the shrine, the Nagata Shrine Shinsenjo shows its working back room.

What to Look For at the Shinsenjo

Looking at the Nagata Shrine Shinsenjo from outside, pay attention to where the openings are. The entrance towards the east of the front and the kitchen door on the west side map directly onto the division inside between the tatami room and the work floor.

Note the lean-to on the east, too. The storeroom sits a step below the main hip-and-gable roof, showing how the building was extended sideways as its uses required.

In the 1924 move, this building travelled with the Edo-period main hall and heihaiden. It was then only about ten years old and purely practical, yet it was taken down and rebuilt on the new site, a sign of how much the shrine valued its double role.

Visiting the Shinsenjo

The Nagata Shrine Shinsenjo stands north of the main hall and is in ritual use; Tottori Prefecture lists the interior as closed. You view it from the paths of the precinct, though some areas near the fenced main hall may be off limits, so follow any signs or instructions from the priests.

The shrine says it is carrying out repairs to the main hall and other buildings to mark the centenary of the move. Since this building serves as the temporary hall during main hall repairs, it may be in use as the sanctuary while work is under way. Ordinary souvenir photography is allowed. Directions and general visiting information are on the Nagata Shrine page.