otabisho shinden 御旅所神殿

Keywords
Architecture
Shrines

Also *otabisho 御旅所. Otabi 御旅 (revered journey); sho 所 (space); shinden 神殿 (deity's hall). A temporary 1-bay shrine built once every year to house the deity, kami 神, during December for the Wakamiya Festival, Wakamiya onmatsuri 若宮御祭 after it journeys from the subsidiary shrine Wakamiya 若宮, a subsidiary shrine of Kasuga Taisha 春日大社. It is erected immediately before the festival and dismantled immediately after its finish. This sanctuary is primitive, and is constructed with unstripped pillars, kurokibashira 黒木柱, set directly into the ground. Bark-covered logs are used for the brackets, beams and bargeboard. Widely spaced rafters are made of bark-covered strippings; the gable roof is crudely thatched and simple unstripped branches serve as forked finials *chigi 千木, and billets *katsuogi 堅魚木. The back and sides are enclosed, but the front of the gable end is completely open. It has a floor and eight log steps. There is a simple shed roof that stretches across the front at right angles to the gable. This simple type of structure is thought to be derived from the style of Japanese architecture dating back to the prehistoric age. Example: Kasuga Taisha Otabisho Shinden 春日大社御旅所神殿, in Nara.