Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall

What the Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall is

The Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall (有礒正八幡宮本殿, Ariso Shō Hachimangū Honden) is the 1883 sanctuary at the rear of Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine in Yokota-machi, Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 2, 2006.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a single-storey timber building roofed in copper sheet (Dōban-buki) with a building area of 21 square meters. Its plan is close to square, 2.5 bays wide and 2.5 bays deep. The worship and offering hall and the tsuridono in front of it date from 1935, so the main hall is 52 years older than everything else in the row.

A proposal for the World Heritage Tentative List prepared by Toyama Prefecture and Takaoka City credits the Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall to the master carpenter Matsui Kakuhei. As the dwelling of the deities, it sits farthest from where worshippers stand, reached from the worship hall through the tsuridono.

Why the Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall was registered

It was registered in the 49th round as number 16-0075, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. The tsuridono (16-0076) and the worship and offering hall (16-0077) were registered the same day.

What earns the Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall its place is how much roof and bracket work has been packed into a small building. Takaoka City's historic townscape plan names the hip-and-gable roof of the main hall and its ornamental bracketing among the defining features of the shrine. Keep in mind how small the building is, 21 square meters, while you take in how many layers of roof and carving it carries.

What to look for at the Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall

Start with the roof. It is an Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable roof with its ridge running east to west, and a triangular Chidori-hafu gable is set into both the front slope and the back slope. Many shrines put a chidori-hafu on the front only; here the back has a matching one, so from the side you see the two gables facing away from each other like a pair. Chigi crossed boards and Katsuogi billets sit on the ridge.

Under the eaves, each post carries a three-block bracket set whose tie-beam ends are carved into knuckle shapes (kobushibana), and a frog-leg strut, the Kaerumata, fills the space between posts. The eaves use a double layer of closely spaced rafters, a treatment known as futanoki shigedaruki.

At floor level a veranda with a Kōran railing wraps the front and both sides, ending at Wakishōji screen panels on each side. There is no veranda across the back.

Visiting the Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall

The Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine Main Hall houses the deities and is not open inside. Because the worship hall and the tsuridono stand in front of it, only part of its roof shows from the approach. To see the paired gables you need to look up from the side or rear of the shrine buildings, as far as access allows; follow any guidance from the shrine office.

The shrine has published no general photography rule. Avoid taking pictures during ceremonies or prayers, and do not touch the building or step onto the veranda. Directions and visiting conditions for the grounds are on the Ariso Sho Hachimangu Shrine page.