Kubo Hachiman Shrine Subordinate Kora Shrine Main Hall

What the Kōra Shrine Main Hall Is

Kubo Hachiman Shrine Subordinate Kora Shrine Main Hall (窪八幡神社末社高良神社本殿), in the grounds of Kubo Hachiman Shrine in Kita, Yamanashi City, Yamanashi Prefecture, is a small sanctuary said to have been rebuilt in 1500 and designated an Important Cultural Property on February 18, 1949. It is a one-bay Kasuga-zukuri building with corner rafters, roofed in Hiwadabuki cypress bark.

Kōra Shrine is one of the subordinate shrines (massha) of Kubo Hachiman and stands south of the main worship hall. It honors Kōra Myōjin, the deity of Kōra Taisha in northern Kyushu, who is often given a place in the grounds of Hachiman shrines. The name 高良 is read Kōra here, not Takara.

The shrine chronicle Ōimata Jinja Hongi records the rebuilding in 1500, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs follows that year, placing the hall in the late Muromachi period. The Takeuchi Daijin sanctuary nearby is said to have been rebuilt the same year.

Why the Kōra Shrine Main Hall Matters

Yamanashi City describes the Kōra Shrine sanctuary at Kubo Hachiman as a clear example of late Muromachi building methods. It shows what a small shrine sanctuary looked like around the turn of the sixteenth century, before the large Takeda-era rebuilding of the precinct.

Of the five designated sanctuaries at Kubo Hachiman, four are Nagare-zukuri and this is the only kasuga-zukuri. The two forms differ in where the entrance goes: kasuga-zukuri has its doorway in the gable end, under a canopy added to the front, while nagare-zukuri enters on the long side. Seeing both types in one precinct is part of the site's value.

What to Look For at the Kōra Shrine Main Hall

From the front, the triangle of the gable faces you. That gable-entry front is the mark of kasuga-zukuri, and it gives an immediately different impression from the long, sweeping front slope of a nagare-zukuri sanctuary.

The term "with corner rafters" (sumigi-iri) refers to how the front canopy roof is joined to the main roof: corner rafters are set where the two meet. Look from an angle and you can see the ends of the canopy roof turning back along the sides of the building.

It is a modest single-bay sanctuary, yet the thick bark roof and the lift of its eaves have the tidy proportions of late Muromachi work.

Visiting the Kōra Shrine Main Hall

Kubo Hachiman Shrine Subordinate Kora Shrine Main Hall stands to the left, or south, as you face the main worship hall. The interior is closed, and the building is seen from outside. The Takeuchi Daijin sanctuary is close by, so kasuga-zukuri and nagare-zukuri can be compared one after the other.

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