Shinto Shrine
Date1903
Place of ManufactureKurayoshi, Japan, Asia
MediumMaterial: stone foundation; keriyaki wood; iron fittings; copper roof
DimensionsOverall: 549 × 274 × 396 cm (approximate)
ClassificationsDECORATIVE ART
Credit LinePurchased with Funds provided by the B.C. Lottery Fund and the Asian Art Society of Victoria
Object number1987.007.001
DescriptionThe shrine is an example of Meiji era shrine carpentry, combining several styles of Shinto architecture: Taisha, Kasuga and Otori as well as exhibiting Chinese and Buddhist influences.Elevated on stilts, the shrine has two copper shingled gable roofs on a central axis covering a central building and a stairway, the entire structure resting on a hand-hewn kamachi sandstone base. It has a very narrow body with no partition in the main building. The elevated stairway under the porch roof leads to a small balcony behind which are two finely fashioned swinging doors with iron hinges that enclose the inner compartment used for housing a sacred object. An elegant railed veranda surrounds the main part of the building serving a purely ornamental purpose. The back corner posts and upper stair posts are decorated with onion-shaped ornaments (giboshi), which signify the sacred balls of treasure (hoju), often found at Buddhist temples.
Chinese-style bracketing systems are displayed in the carvings on the beam member-ends (nosings). The lines of the main building gable roof are cusped and curved, the downward slope having a slight lift at the edges, while the entrance has a gabled roof with undulating bargeboards, a flattened central arch and trailing ends. The shrine has a massive roof structure with ornamental ridge-end acroteria or gable ornaments (tsuma-kazari). The horn-like finials (chigi) and ridge billets or katsuogi (round pieces of wood) were originally designed to hold down the roof. The roof and its decorated details are finished in copper.
Highlighting the structural framework are relief carvings and sculptures. The gable pendants are a variation of the turnip pattern. There are swirls of flowers on the entrance roof gable pendant and cloud scrolls on the main building gable pendant. Halfway down the gable sides are single cloud scrolls. The first archway of the covered entrance is dominated by a carving in high-relief of a dragon amidst swirling waves. A frieze of cloud scrolls and a crossbeam with incised floral sprigs appear respectively, above and below the detailed dragon carving. The second archway of the entrance is embellished with an openwork relief carving of a swelling wave above a crossbeam with floral sprigs. Panels of cloud scrolls decorate the front and back sides of a tall phallic-like mountain rising up to clouds from wind-tossed waves. In front of this is a bundle of what appears to be immortality fungus. Located just under the rib-like rafters of the main building roof are relief carvings, on the left of a hawk or falcon with the head turned to one side and on the right side a peony. A pair of elegantly curved beams, sometimes called shrimp-like rainbow beams, are decorated with floral sprigs. and connect the porch to the main building. The beam ends, the armpit struts, frog-legged struts and bracketing are all molded and finished.
The most prominent of all the carvings are those on the beam nosings, at the front side of the porch consisting of a pair of lion-heads with upper torsos. As well there are also mythical animals (baku) with elephant-like trunks and tusks, and small ears, on the crossbeam nosings.
Status
Not on view
Thomas Blundell
