Kubo Hachiman Shrine Shinmon Gate

What the Kubo Hachiman Shinmon Gate Is

Kubo Hachiman Shrine Shinmon Gate (窪八幡神社神門), the front entrance of Kubo Hachiman Shrine in Kita, Yamanashi City, Yamanashi Prefecture, is a gate dated to 1511 and designated an Important Cultural Property on February 18, 1949. It is a Shikyakumon, or four-legged gate, with a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Hiwadabuki cypress bark.

The gate faces east at the main entrance to the grounds and is also called the sōmon, or outer gate. In front of it a gently arched stone bridge crosses a small watercourse. That bridge is included in the designation as an attached item, so the gate and bridge are protected as one composition.

Two records give different dates. The shrine chronicle Ōimata Jinja Hongi says 1511; the Ōdaiki, a chronicle kept at Jōnobō, the Buddhist temple that once administered the shrine, says 1542. The Agency for Cultural Affairs follows 1511. An ink inscription on the ridge box shows that the gate was repaired in 1769.

Why the Kubo Hachiman Shinmon Gate Matters

The Shinmon Gate has guarded the front of Kubo Hachiman since the Warring States period. It is dated close to the main hall of 1519, and so shows at the entrance what the shrine looked like when its main buildings were first assembled.

A four-legged gate has two main posts, each braced by a pair of auxiliary posts front and back, and it was reserved for important entrances at shrines and temples. With its bark-covered gable roof, the Kubo Hachiman gate keeps the look of a late Muromachi shrine gate.

What to Look For at the Kubo Hachiman Shinmon Gate

Start on the stone bridge. The shallow arch of the bridge over the watercourse and the bark roof of the gate beyond line up in one frame, which makes it clear why the two were designated together.

Under the roof, check the posts. The two central main posts and the four auxiliary posts around them form the frame of a four-legged gate, so three posts stand on each side of the passage.

Pass through and look back: the Kubo Hachiman torii stands at the far end of the approach to the east. The line running from torii to gate is the formal front of the shrine.

Visiting the Kubo Hachiman Shinmon Gate

Kubo Hachiman Shrine Shinmon Gate is the entrance to the grounds, and every visitor walks through it. It is an open-air structure, so the exterior and framing can be seen freely. If you stop on the bridge or in front of the gate, leave room for others coming through.

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