Ōsaki Hachimangū
History. The construction of the present "shaden" was ordered by the wealthy "daimyō" Date Masamune. He hired craftsmen from Kyoto 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 in Kyoto. Since the early Meiji period 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") and a worship hall ("haiden") 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 (間, bay) by 3 ken structure with a hip-and-gable, irimoya style roof to which  a simple gabled roof 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 of strongly concave shape, a . The entrance is covered by a 5 ken wide step canopy with an undulating "karahafu" gable at eave ends ("nokikarahafu").