Ube Shrine Gate

What Is the Ube Shrine Gate?

The Ube Shrine Gate (宇倍神社神門, Ube Jinja Shinmon) is the shrine gate standing in front of the worship hall of Ube Shrine in Kokufu-cho Miyanoshita, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture; it was built in 1915 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 6 March 2024. Its registration number is 31-0286, and it was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

The Ube Shrine Gate stands east of the worship hall, where it receives worshippers just before the shrine buildings. It is a timber Kirizuma-zukuri gabled gate with a Hiwadabuki cypress-bark roof, 3.0 meters wide, and it was altered in the early Showa period.

Round Posts and Square Posts

The frame of the Ube Shrine Gate mixes round and square timber. The main posts at the center are round, while the Hikaebashira support posts in front of and behind them are square. Two rows of Nuki tie-beams, one at waist height and one at the head of the opening, lock the two sets together.

The posts carry plain Funahijiki brackets, and the ridge beam rests on an Inoko-sasu truss. The eaves have a single tier of closely spaced Taruki rafters, a simpler arrangement than the double tier on the worship hall and main hall.

Between the bracket positions sits a carved panel in the shape of the upper half of a chrysanthemum crest. On a shrine where ornament is kept to a minimum, it is one of the details worth stopping for.

A Roof with a Gentle Swell

The roof of the Ube Shrine Gate has mukuri, a slight upward swell across the middle of its slopes. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out this graceful convex roof as the feature that defines the look of the shrine.

The shrine's own guide makes the same point by contrast: the soft curve of the gate roof set against the upswept, concave roof of the worship hall behind it. From in front of the gate you see both at once, the swelling curve nearer to you and the rising curve beyond, and the difference between the two is easy to read.

The Gate and the Banknotes

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Ube Shrine Gate as a gate that once appeared on a banknote. According to the Tottori Association of Shinto Shrines, the shrine featured on notes issued in 1899, 1916 and 1943.

The gate was finished in 1915, too late for the 1899 note. If it appears on a note, it must be the 1916 or the 1943 issue. The agency does not say which.

Seeing the Ube Shrine Gate

The Ube Shrine Gate stands on the route every worshipper takes, so you can see it up close at any time. Stand facing it from the top of the stone steps and the worship hall roof shows above and behind it, putting both curves into a single view.

Before you pass through, look up under the eaves for the half-chrysanthemum carving. Once through, turn around and study from the inside how the round main posts and square support posts are joined. The gate is a busy passage, so step to one side if you stop to look. Directions to the shrine are on the Ube Shrine page.