Ochidani Shrine Buildings, now Tottori Toshogu

Four Buildings, an Important Cultural Property since 1952

Ochidani Shrine Buildings, now Tottori Toshogu (樗谿神社, Ochidani Jinja), stand at Uemachi, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, listed as an Important Cultural Property on 19 July 1952. The listing is as an Important Cultural Property, not a National Treasure, and the owner is Tottori Toshogu.

The Tottori prefectural shrine office records the listed buildings as the main hall, the Chinese-style gate, the offering hall and the worship hall: four in all.

The shrine was founded in 1650. The lord of the Tottori domain, Ikeda Mitsunaka, petitioned the shogunate to invite a Toshogu shrine to Tottori, received permission in the twelfth month of 1648, and began building the following year.

The Listed Name and the Owner's Name Differ

One shrine is recorded under two names.

The name of the cultural property is Ochidani Jinja. The owner field, however, reads Tottori Toshogu.

By the shrine's own account, it was first called Toshogu, later became Ochidani Jinja, and is now called Tottori Toshogu once again.

The name of the cultural property remains as registered during the period when the shrine bore the middle name.

At the Kozanji Buddha hall, the record noted that the temple was at first called by another name. Myooin also changed its name. Both are mentioned within the commentary.

Here the difference shows between the name field and the owner field. The valley changed name too, from one form to another before becoming Ochidani.

The Main Hall Was Built from a Single Great Tree

A detailed record survives of how the timber was found.

Tottori Toshogu quotes a work written by a domain physician of the time.

The main hall was built of zelkova, left unpainted, it says. Fine material was sought far and wide, and in the end a rare great tree was felled in the Chizu district.

It continues that the main hall was built from this one timber with some to spare. One tree sufficed, and more than sufficed.

At the Ishitani residence, the record named fine timber, above all good cedar from the Chizu district. The same district supplied the wood.

There it was cedar and here zelkova, and the periods lie far apart, one early Edo and one Taisho to Showa. Timber from one district went into two Important Cultural Properties.

The Ink Inscription Is Dated Before the Founding

Characters found during repair give a year earlier than the founding.

Tottori Toshogu records that a recent repair uncovered an ink inscription on a rafter of the worship hall, dated the twenty-third day of the seventh month of 1649.

The shrine's founding is given as 1650, a year later.

Permission came in the twelfth month of 1648 and building began the following year. The date on the rafter falls during that work.

At the Shofukuji Jizo hall, an inscription on a bracket gave the date of building, the mountain name and the principal image. At the Kozanji Buddha hall, an inscription on a pillar stood seven years before the temple's founding.

Here the inscription sits on a rafter of the worship hall and points to a year before the founding. It reads as something written on the timber while the work was under way.

Visiting

The buildings stand at Uemachi, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, owned by Tottori Toshogu.

The choice of site is recorded too. The shrine was first planned for another valley, but the ground there was too narrow.

After other sites were considered, a valley once known by an older name was chosen: broad and deep, with mountains rising about it, and quiet.

The work began by carrying earth to level the ground, cutting stone for the paved approach, cutting back the hill to widen the site of the halls, and filling a stream bed to make the forecourt. At the Daizenji main hall, how the money was raised was recorded. Here it is how the ground was made.

Along the approach stand twenty stone lanterns given in 1650 by fourteen senior retainers. The buildings stand in the precinct and their exteriors can be seen on a visit. Interiors follow the shrine's own arrangements. Check before travelling.