Series ARCHITECTURAL TREASURES

Nishina Shinmei Shrine

Japan’s Oldest Extant Shrine in the Shinmei-zukuri Style Nishina Shinmei Shrine, a national treasure, is located at the foot of a mountain that leads to high peaks in Japan. The shrine buildings have passed on ancient style to the present day and boast a dignified presence among the beautiful forest.

SASAKI TAKASHI

machi City, with a Just like Ise Jingu, Nishina Shin- nects the two, have been designated population of 27,000, mei Shrine enshrines as national treasures, as they are the is located in the north- Omikami, the mythical Japanese sun oldest examples of Shinmei-zukuri western part of Nagano goddess, and the shrine buildings architecture in Japan. OPrefecture and is surrounded by were built in the Shinmei-zukuri style. Miyazaki Eisuke, a representa- nearby mountains. It is the gateway The prototype for this style is said to tive of shrine parishioners helping to mountain climbing and tour- be ancient Japanese granaries built to manage Nishina Shinmei Shrine, ism in the Hida Mountains with its with a raised floor (takayuka-shiki). says, “At Nishina Shinmei Shrine, many 3,000 meter high peaks, also This characteristic style, which the Shikinen Sengu is carried out once known as the Japanese Northern raises the floors high off the ground every twenty years, just like at Ise Alps. Nishina Shinmei Shrine, a to allow for good ventilation and to Jingu. There are thirty-five munafuda– national treasure, is built in a hilly prevent humidity, was established wooden ridge plaques which record area of the city. during the Yayoi period (from around the details of the ritual–in existence, It is unclear when Nishina Shin- the 10th century BCE to 300 CE). starting with one from 1376.” mei Shrine was founded, but it is Japanese cypress, one of the finest Shikinen Sengu is a ritual where thought that the shrine has more materials used in Japanese wooden the shaden, or main building of than 900 years of history. In the past, construction, was used as a build- the shrine, is rebuilt at an adjacent this area was known as Mikuriya (the ing material, and the style features site in a specific architectural style honorific term for a “demesne”) and simple, straight lines, making use of at regular intervals and the object was a place to procure hemp and Jap- the beauty of the cypress tree bark of worship is transferred to the anese paper offerings for the gods to itself. The honden (main hall) and newly-rebuilt building. This ritual be offered at Ise Jingu, the most pres- chumon (inner gate), as well as the has been carried out for over 1,300 tigious shrine in Japan. tsuriya (suspended roof) which con- years at Ise Jingu.

30 | highlighting japan Towering cedar and cypress trees on the shrine grounds

The roof of the main hall, thatched with cypress bark

The raised-floor granary

Full of pride, Miyazaki says, Sengu was carried out as scheduled old. Due to its mysterious atmo- “There aren’t any other examples in for the first time in twenty years at sphere, this forest has gained pop- Japan of carrying out Shikinen Sengu Nishina Shinmei Shrine. The main ularity among young women and continuously for so long without any parts of the main hall were left as others as a location flowing with breaks, even amidst war or disaster.” is, but the roof was re-thatched mystical energy that can increase Among Nishina Shinmei Shrine’s by layering thinly sliced Japanese one’s fortunes. Solemnly standing wooden munafuda, the twenty- cypress bark layers in a process within this dense forest, Nishina seven plaques from before mod- called hiwadabuki, and damaged Shinmei Shrine has become a place ern times have been designated as parts were also repaired. The beau- of prayer and, though not well con- Important Cultural Properties, and tiful appearance of the main hall nected by public transport, is vis- from the records remaining on these was thus restored, and the object of ited by around 30,000 worshippers plaques, we know that the main worship, which had been moved to each year. building was not fully rebuilt in the a temporary shrine, was once again Shikinen Sengu carried out in the transferred to its proper place in the early part of the Edo period in 1636. main hall. Only the re-thatching of the roofs Around Nishina Shinmei Shrine, and repairs for damaged parts were which boasts expansive grounds of undertaken for the main hall, inner nearly 20,000 square meters, is a gate, and suspended roof, and so dense forest, with large Japanese these buildings from that time, built cedar and Japanese cypress trees close to 400 years ago, have been standing as if reaching for the heav- maintained as they are. ens, including two Japanese cedars Wooden munafuda In November 2019, Shikinen estimated to be about 1,000 years

All photos Sasaki Takashi SEPTEMBER 2020 | 31