Shima Shrine

Shima Shrine: An Ancient Listed Shrine Northeast of Wakayama Castle

Shima Shrine (志磨神社, Shima Jinja) is a shrine in Nakanoshima, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, whose worship hall, temizusha water pavilion, and Shinmon gate with flanking walls, all built in 1944, were added to Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 6, 2024.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes Shima Shrine as a shikinaisha lying northeast of Wakayama Castle. The term marks a shrine named in the register of deities compiled as part of the Engishiki, the tenth-century code of court procedures, so the name has been attached to this area for well over a thousand years. Today the grounds occupy a city block just south of JR Kiwa Station.

According to the prefectural board of education, as reported by the local paper Kii Minpo, the shrine was once known as Kunitsu Daimyojin. It took its present name only in the Edo period.

Shima Shrine Through War, Revival, and Air Raids

Wakayama Prefecture's heritage notes record that Shima Shrine lost its buildings in 1585, in the fighting that came with Hashiba (later Toyotomi) Hideyoshi's invasion of the Kii region. The shrine was revived in 1628, and the present main sanctuary dates from 1678. In 1688, on the orders of the Kii domain, it began calling itself Shima Shrine, and the domain's involvement in its affairs grew.

That main sanctuary is a one-bay building in the Kasuga-zukuri style, now roofed in copper sheet (originally cypress bark), with a frontage of 1.8 meters. That is generous for the type. It drops the front beam and sets a cusped karahafu gable in its place, an arrangement the prefecture notes is rare in Wakayama. Carved birds and beasts appear throughout, and the whole is finished in lacquer and pigment. Wakayama Prefecture designated it a prefectural cultural property in 2022.

The 1945 air raid on Wakayama devastated the city center, but Shima Shrine escaped. The seventeenth-century sanctuary and the wartime buildings finished only the year before both came through.

The 1944 Buildings and Their Registration

The worship hall, the temizusha, and the gate with its walls all went up in 1944, in the middle of the Pacific War. The prefecture's commentary points to the good timber and carefully finished details of the worship hall, and notes that the pavilion, gate, and walls built alongside it shape the historic character of the grounds. It values the group as one of the few well-made modern buildings in traditional Japanese style left in central Wakayama after the bombing.

Following a recommendation by the Council for Cultural Affairs on November 24, 2023, the three structures were registered on March 6, 2024, in the 106th round of registrations, as numbers 30-0344 (worship hall), 30-0345 (temizusha), and 30-0346 (gate and flanking walls). The worship hall qualified as a model of its kind of design. The pavilion and the gate qualified for their contribution to the historic landscape.

Their sizes differ a good deal. The national database gives the worship hall a building area of 93 square meters; it was renovated in 1967. The temizusha covers just 5.8 square meters. The gate is 2.7 meters wide, and its flanking walls run 16 meters in total.

Finding Your Way Around Shima Shrine

The approach runs north from Kita-Odori avenue on the south side. At its head, on the southern edge of the grounds, stands the Shinmon gate, with walls stretching away to either side. Pass through, and the temizusha stands beside the path, facing west.

The approach ends at the worship hall. The national database places it on the south side of the main sanctuary, while the council's summary describes it as standing in the northeast of the grounds. A norito-den prayer hall is attached at the rear and an offering room at the northwest corner, with the main sanctuary behind.

Because the buildings line up from south to north, gate, pavilion, worship hall, and sanctuary, a single walk up the approach takes in all three registered structures. The details of each, and where to stand to see them, are covered on their own pages.

Visiting Shima Shrine

Shima Shrine does not appear to have an official website, and no public notice of visiting hours or admission fees could be found. All three registered structures sit along the approach, and their exteriors can be seen from the path. The interior of the worship hall is used for rites and prayers and is not advertised as open to the public. No photography rules are published either, so refrain during ceremonies and follow any signs on site.

The nearest station is Kiwa on the JR Kisei Line. The grounds lie about 200 meters south of the station in a straight line, but because the station sits on the north side and the entrance faces Kita-Odori to the south, reaching the front of the shrine means walking around the block. From Wakayamashi Station on the Nankai Main Line, the shrine is about 1.6 kilometers to the east, roughly a 20-minute walk.