Kubo Hachiman Shrine Subordinate Hime Sanjin Main Hall

What the Hime Sanjin Main Hall Is

Kubo Hachiman Shrine Subordinate Hime Sanjin Main Hall (窪八幡神社末社比咩三神本殿), in the grounds of Kubo Hachiman Shrine in Kita, Yamanashi City, Yamanashi Prefecture, is an early Edo-period sanctuary said to have been rebuilt in 1625 and designated an Important Cultural Property on February 18, 1949. It is a one-bay Nagare-zukuri building with a copper roof.

Hime Sanjin, one of the subordinate shrines (massha) of Kubo Hachiman, stands on an island in the pond in the lower front part of the grounds, below the terrace that holds the main buildings. It honors three goddesses, Tagorihime, Tagitsuhime and Ichikishimahime, and until the Edo period it was known as Benzaiten.

According to Yamanashi City, the present building is said to have been rebuilt in 1625 by Tokugawa Tadanaga, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs uses the same year. It is the only Edo-period building among the nine designated at Kubo Hachiman.

Why the Hime Sanjin Main Hall Matters

Yamanashi City describes the Hime Sanjin sanctuary at Kubo Hachiman as a strikingly ornate building, fully lacquered, with its parts picked out in white, vermilion and black and touched with gold leaf, and as a good example of early Edo style. In a precinct of bare wood and muted Muromachi buildings, it shows how far ideas of shrine decoration had moved.

The copper roof is a replacement; the original was Hiwadabuki cypress bark. Small as it is, the painted and gilded finish carries the showy taste of the Momoyama years into the early Edo period.

What to Look For at the Hime Sanjin Main Hall

Walk through the gate and the island sanctuary is one of the first buildings you see. Across the water, its vermilion and black look nothing like the bark-roofed halls lined up on the terrace beyond.

Follow the color changes along the posts, brackets and door frames. White, vermilion and black are assigned part by part, with gold leaf at key points, and you can pick out where the lacquer still shines and where it has dulled with age.

The copper roof has turned green with patina, a surface unlike anything else in grounds dominated by bark roofs.

Visiting the Hime Sanjin Main Hall

Kubo Hachiman Shrine Subordinate Hime Sanjin Main Hall stands on the pond island in the front part of the grounds, just inside the gate. The interior is closed, and the building is viewed from the pond's edge. It is small, so pick the nearest point on the bank to see the color work and gold leaf.

Directions to the shrine and general visiting information are gathered on the Kubo Hachiman Shrine page.