tenchi kongen-zukuri 天地根元造

1　A prehistoric pit dwelling *tateana jūkyo 竪穴住居.

2　The speculative form of the oldest shrine architecture called tenchi kongen miya-zukuri 天地根元宮造, as imagined by carpenters in the Edo period. They assumed the pit was covered with diagonal, X-shaped braces at each end. A ridge pole was thought to have been set in the crutches, and the entire structure covered with brush. The upper ends of the braces extended above the ridge pole forming what may have been a forerunner of the forked finials *chigi 千木, a chief characteristic of the shinmei and kasuga style, *shinmei-zukuri 神明造, *kasuga-zukuri 春日造. However, since nothing suggesting such a structure has ever been excavated, it is a dubious connection.