Shima Shrine Shinmon Gate and Flanking Walls

What Is the Shima Shrine Shinmon Gate and Flanking Walls?

The Shima Shrine Shinmon Gate and Flanking Walls (志磨神社神門及び袖塀, Shima Jinja Shinmon oyobi Sodebei) is a 1944 gate with walls on either side at the southern edge of Shima Shrine in Nakanoshima, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 6, 2024.

A shinmon is the gate that marks the entrance to a shrine's grounds, and sodebei are the "sleeve walls" attached to either side of a gate. Here the gate and its walls are registered together as one property. The Agency for Cultural Affairs reads the last word as sodehei, while Wakayama Prefecture's heritage site gives sodebei.

According to the national database, the gate is a timber structure with a tiled roof and a frontage of 2.7 meters. The walls, also timber and tiled, run 16 meters in total. The gate faces straight down the approach and defines the southern boundary of the grounds.

Why the Shima Shrine Shinmon Gate and Flanking Walls Were Registered

The gate and walls were registered in the 106th round of registrations as number 30-0346, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a well-ordered gate that, together with its walls, shapes the look of the grounds.

They were built in 1944, the same year as the worship hall and the temizusha. Wakayama Prefecture values the group as one of the few well-made modern buildings in traditional Japanese style left in central Wakayama after the bombing. When the 1945 air raid struck the city, Shima Shrine escaped, and the gate that frames its entrance survived with it.

What to Look For at the Shima Shrine Shinmon Gate and Flanking Walls

A Single-Bay Four-Legged Gate

The gate is a one-bay, one-doorway Shikyakumon, or "four-legged gate." Two main posts stand on the gate's center line, and four Hikaebashira support posts, two in front and two behind, steady them. All the posts are square with chamfered edges.

Bearing Blocks on the Lintel

The two main posts are joined near the top by a Kabuki lintel. On it sits a row of small bearing blocks, makito, which carry the ridge beam. Stand in front of the gate and look up at the lintel: you can see the blocks spaced evenly along it, taking the weight of the roof.

The support posts are tied at the top by head beams and carry a simpler arrangement of a large bearing block with a bracket arm. Because the main and support posts carry their loads in different ways, it is worth comparing the gate from the front and from the side. The eaves use a single layer of widely spaced Taruki rafters, which keeps the roof edge light.

Latticed Walls on Wainscot

The flanking walls have a renji lattice of slim vertical bars in their upper half and Koshiita wainscot boards below. The grounds show through the lattice, so the walls mark a boundary without closing it off. Stretching 16 meters on either side, they make a gate only 2.7 meters wide read as the full front of the shrine.

Visiting the Shima Shrine Shinmon Gate and Flanking Walls

The Shima Shrine Shinmon Gate and Flanking Walls stand at the head of the approach, and visitors walking up the path pass through the gate to enter. For the whole composition, look from the approach just in front of the gate. Step underneath to see the bearing blocks on the lintel and the brackets on the support posts; the national database includes a photograph of this view. Turn around once inside the grounds to see the lattice of the walls from the inner side.

No photography rules are published. People come and go through the gate constantly, so shoot from a spot that does not block the way and refrain during ceremonies. Directions to the shrine and general visiting information are on the Shima Shrine page.