is a

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

in Aoba-ku,

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

Miyagi Miyagi may refer to: Places * Miyagi Prefecture, one of the 47 major divisions of Japan * Miyagi, Gunma, a village in Japan, merged into Maebashi in 2004 *Miyagi District, Miyagi, a district in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan Other uses * Miyagi (surna ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The has been designated a

National Treasure of Japan Some of the National Treasures of Japan A is the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (a special body of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scien ...

. Beppyo shrines

History

The construction of the present ''shaden'' was ordered by the wealthy ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' Date Masamune. He hired craftsmen from

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

and central Japan, some of whom had previously worked for the Toyotomi family. The shrine was erected between 1604 and 1607. The lavish decoration with wood carving, painting, metal fittings, and lacquer emulated recent models from central Japan, in particular, the

Toyokuni shrine , alternately read Hōkoku Shrine (''Hōkoku-jinja''), refers to a number of Shinto shrines in Japan dedicated to kampaku and ruler of Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The two names are different readings of the same ''kanji'' and are used interchangeabl ...

in Kyoto. Since the early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

the shrine was called Ōsaki Hachiman Jinja. In consideration of historical circumstances, its original name was reinstated in June 1997. On November 22, 1952, the ''shaden'' was designated as a National Treasure.

Architecture

The ''shaden'' is one of the oldest extant examples of , also known as '' gongen-zukuri'' (権現造), and an outstanding work of Azuchi–Momoyama architecture. It is a single-storied structure consisting of a main sanctuary (''

honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

'') and a worship hall (''

haiden Haiden may refer to: *A Gewürztraminer wine * Haiden (Shinto), the hall of worship of a Shinto shrine See also * Heiden (disambiguation) {{disambig ...

'') which are joined via a connecting passage called ''ishi-no-ma''. All three structures are under a single roof which is covered with thin shake shingles (''kokerabuki'' 柿葺) made from Japanese cypress. The ''honden'' is a 5

ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

(間, bay) by 3 ken structure with a hip-and-gable,

irimoya The East Asian hip-and-gable roof (''Xiēshān'' (歇山) in Chinese, ''Irimoya'' (入母屋) in Japanese, and ''Paljakjibung'' (팔작지붕) in Korean) also known as 'resting hill roof', consists of a hip roof that slopes down on all four side ...

style roof to which a simple

gabled roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...

of the 3 ken by 1 ken ''ishi-no-ma'' connects. The ''haiden'' is also 3 ken deep and 7 ken wide. Its roof is like that of the ''honden'' of the hip-and-gable type. On the front it has an attached triangular dormer with a decorative

bargeboard Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin ''bargus'', or ''barcus'', a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym "vergeboard") or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to ...

of strongly concave shape, a . The entrance is covered by a 5 ken wide step canopy with an undulating ''

karahafu is a type of curved gable found in Japanese architecture. It is used on Japanese castles, Buddhist temples, and Shinto shrines. Roofing materials such as tile and bark may be used as coverings. The face beneath the gable may be flush with the wa ...

'' gable at eave ends (''nokikarahafu'').

References

External links

Ōsaki Hachimangū official site

Ōsaki Hachimangū English pamphlet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osaki Hachimangu Shinto shrines in Miyagi Prefecture Buildings and structures in Sendai Date clan National Treasures of Japan Hachiman shrines