Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall

What is the Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall?

The Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall (鳥海山大物忌神社蕨岡口ノ宮神楽殿) is a small building in Kamiwarabioka, Yuza Town, Yamagata Prefecture, erected as a bell tower in the late Edo period, between 1751 and 1829, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2007.

It stands on the south side of the grounds, a little in from the west-facing entrance, immediately to the right once you pass the Zuishin Gate. Yuza Town describes it as vermilion, and the Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall is the small red building you see from the approach.

The Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall was not built for dance. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records that it was raised as a bell tower and converted into a kagura hall, a stage for sacred music and dance, at the time of the separation of Shinto and Buddhism, with alterations in the early Meiji era from 1868 on. Yuza Town tells the same story of the bell tower left at the shrine taking on a new role.

It is a single-storey wooden structure with a sheet-iron roof and a footprint of 14 square meters. It was registered in December 2007, a little after the Main Hall and Zuishin Gate.

How the Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall is built, and why it is registered

The Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall has an Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable roof with its ridge running north to south. The round posts are tapered at the top in a style called chimaki, and they lean slightly inward, a technique known as uchikorobi that is often associated with bell towers. The lean hints at the building's first purpose.

Above the posts sit projecting bracket sets with paired Shirin boards, and the eaves use a single layer of closely spaced rafters. The floor is planked and surrounded by a Kōran railing, and the ceiling is coffered in the Gō-tenjō manner. The railed floor and coffered ceiling suit its present role as a stage.

The Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, and the Agency values it as a structure that records historical change. The shift from bell tower to dance stage mirrors how Warabioka, once a base for mountain ascetics, was reorganized as a Shinto shrine in the Meiji era.

What to look for at the Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall

Stand in front of the Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall and follow the line of a post upward. You will notice it tilting inward. Combined with the tapered tops, that lean gives the little building a taut outline.

Look also at the boards between the brackets. Instead of evenly spaced members, they are set in pairs, a spacing called fukiyose that gives the underside of the eaves a quick rhythm.

The Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall returns to use each May 3 at the Warabioka annual festival, Ōnbei-matsuri, when Warabioka Ennen is performed here. According to Yuza Town, this art was bound up with the training and rites of passage of mountain ascetics: children of Warabioka's ascetic families joined the rituals at age three and went on to perform child dances, ennen dances, and dengaku roles as they grew older.

Visiting the Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall

The Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall stands beside the approach and its exterior can be viewed at any time, free of charge. Visitors cannot go up onto the stage.

Warabioka Kuchinomiya is around 10 minutes by car from Yuza Station on the JR Uetsu Line and around 20 minutes from the Sakata-Minato interchange, with parking for about 20 cars. Inquiries and goshuin stamps are handled at Fukura Kuchinomiya (0234-77-2301).

Visit on May 3 to see the Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka Kuchinomiya Kagura Hall in use as a stage. Festival dates and times can change, so check with the shrine in advance. There is no official guidance on photography; be mindful of others during performances.