Tachikawa Inari Shrine Main Hall

What the Tachikawa Inari Shrine Main Hall is

The Tachikawa Inari Shrine Main Hall (立川稲荷神社本殿, Tachikawa Inari Jinja Honden) is the 1921 sanctuary of Tachikawa Inari Shrine in Tachikawa-chō, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 19, 2014.

It was built new after a merger. In 1918 the local Inari shrine absorbed the nearby Kitano Shrine and moved onto Kitano's grounds, and this main hall was raised for the combined shrine three years later. It occupies the highest point of the precinct, above the worship hall and offering hall and up a further flight of stone steps past the middle gate, facing southwest.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the Tachikawa Inari Shrine Main Hall as a one-storey timber building with a sheet-metal roof and a footprint of 21 square meters. It was repaired in 1933 and again in 2013.

Why the main hall was registered

The main hall was registered in the 79th round as number 31-0192, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation, on the same day as the worship hall and the middle gate, which carry the next two numbers.

What the Agency's description singles out is its height and its plain, uncluttered design. The roof is a simple gable (Kirizuma-zukuri), and Tottori Prefecture's guide adds that the entrance is on the long, eaves side (Hirairi). The plan is unusual at a glance: one bay wide at the front but two at the back, so that the front opens as a single broad span while an extra post divides the rear wall.

Where the worship hall below relies on carving, the Tachikawa Inari Shrine Main Hall lets its joinery do the work. Plain boat-shaped bracket blocks (Funahijiki) are let into the tops of the posts, the eaves use two tiers of closely spaced rafters (futanoki shigedaruki), and the gable is filled with an inverted-V strut known as Inoko-sasu.

Looking at the Tachikawa Inari Shrine Main Hall

Start with its proportions. Small as it is, the building stands tall: a veranda with a Kōran railing runs all the way around, lifting the floor well above the ground, and the gabled roof sits high on top of that. This upright silhouette is what the Agency means when it calls the hall tall for its size.

At the front, a projecting roof over the steps (Kōhai) shelters a low platform called a Hamayuka. The doors are paneled Sankarado, set in the front bay and in the forward bays of both sides; every other wall is plain board, so the openings alone tell you which way the sanctuary faces.

Walk around to a gable end to see the inoko-sasu, a pair of diagonal members meeting under the ridge in an old, almost archaic form. In a building that keeps decoration to a minimum, it is one of the few places where the carpenters made a visual statement. Behind the hall a small waterfall, Enmeisui, runs down the hillside.

Visiting the Tachikawa Inari Shrine Main Hall

According to Tottori Prefecture, the exterior of the Tachikawa Inari Shrine Main Hall may be viewed freely, but the interior is not open to the public. The hall stands behind the worship hall, offering hall and middle gate, at the top of the precinct.

Official sources do not say where the best full view is, how close visitors may approach, or whether photography is restricted. Keep a respectful distance and avoid photographing during ceremonies. Directions to the shrine and general visiting information are on the Tachikawa Inari Shrine page.