Jinja Navi 神社ナビ

Fourteen hold a National Treasure

We checked all 120 shrines on this site against the national register of designated cultural properties kept by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. 72 shrines appear in it, with 360 designated items between them. 14 hold a National Treasure (国宝) — 7 for a building, 9 for a sword, a suit of armour or another treasure, and two — Izumo Taisha and Itsukushima — for both.

What this count does and does not cover

We looked at national designations only. Prefectural and municipal designations are not in this survey, so "no national designation" does not mean "nothing of value" — many of the remaining shrines are designated at prefectural or city level.

We searched the register two ways: buildings, historic sites and intangible folk customs by name, and swords, armour and other treasures by owner. Treasures rarely carry the shrine's name in their registered title — Kashima Jingū's National Treasure is listed as 直刀／黒漆平文大刀拵 — so a name search misses them entirely. The trade-off is that anything held under a differently spelled owner name, or since transferred to a museum, may not appear here.

National Treasure buildings (7)

Kamowakeikazuchi Jinja賀茂別雷神社
賀茂別雷神社（本殿）
三間社流造、檜皮葺
designated 1953-03-31 · end of the Edo period
Kamomioya Jinja賀茂御祖神社
賀茂御祖神社（東本殿）
三間社流造、檜皮葺
designated 1953-03-31 · end of the Edo period
Sumiyoshi Taisha住吉大社
住吉大社本殿（第一殿）
住吉造、檜皮葺
designated 1953-11-14 · late Edo period
Izumo Taisha出雲大社
出雲大社本殿
大社造、檜皮葺
designated 1952-03-29 · mid-Edo period
Kibitsu Jinja吉備津神社
吉備津神社本殿及び拝殿
本殿 桁行正面五間、背面七間、梁間八間、一重、比翼入母屋造、檜皮葺 拜殿 桁行三間、梁間一間、一重、正面切妻造、背面本殿屋根に接続、檜皮葺、三方もこし付、もこし本瓦葺
designated 1952-03-29 · mid-Muromachi period
Itsukushima Jinja嚴島神社
厳島神社
本殿 桁行正面八間、背面九間、梁間四間、一重、両流造、檜皮葺 幣殿 桁行一間、梁間一間、一重、両下造、檜皮葺 拜殿 桁行十間、梁間三間、一重、両端すがる破風付入母屋造、檜皮葺、背面両端庇間付
designated 1952-03-29 · late Muromachi period
Usa Jingu宇佐神宮
宇佐神宮本殿（第一殿）
内院 桁行三間、梁間二間、一重、切妻造、檜皮葺 外院 桁行三間、梁間一間、一重、向拝一間、檜皮葺 造り合を含む
designated 1952-11-22 · end of the Edo period

National Treasure objects (9 shrines)

Mishima Taisha三嶋大社
梅蒔絵手箱
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu鶴岡八幡宮
古神宝類
古神宝類
太刀〈銘正恒／〉
籬菊螺鈿蒔絵硯箱
Katori Jingu香取神宮
海獣葡萄鏡
Kashima Jingu鹿島神宮
｛直刀／黒漆平文大刀拵｝
Shirayamahime Jinja白山比咩神社
剣〈銘吉光／〉
Izumo Taisha出雲大社
秋野鹿蒔絵手箱
Itsukushima Jinja嚴島神社
厳島神社古神宝類
小桜韋黄返威鎧〈兜、大袖付／〉
浅黄綾威鎧〈兜、大袖付／〉
紺絲威鎧〈兜、大袖付／〉
黒韋威胴丸〈兜、大袖付／〉
Nifutsuhime Jinja丹生都比売神社
銀銅蛭巻太刀拵
Oyamazumi Jinja大山祇神社
赤絲威鎧〈大袖付／〉

Ōyamazumi Jinja is in a class of its own for armour. Beyond its National Treasure 赤絲威鎧, the register lists dozens more suits as Important Cultural Properties. Itsukushima holds four National Treasure armours. Between them, the two shrines hold most of the nation's designated armour.

The register describes shape, not style

Shrine architecture is usually explained by style name — 大社造 taisha-zukuri, 住吉造 sumiyoshi-zukuri, 流造 nagare-zukuri. The national register mostly does not use those words. Usabhachimangū's main hall is widely called 八幡造 hachiman-zukuri; the register instead writes out its inner and outer halls, their bay counts, roof forms and cypress-bark covering.

So we split the shrines in two: those whose register entry names a style (23) and those where it only describes the building (10). We do not supply a style name where the register gives none.

大社造1

住吉造2

春日造2

両流造1

流造16

比翼入母屋造（吉備津造）1

三間社流造, 五間社流造 and 九間社流造 are all nagare-zukuri; the number counts the bays across the front, so it is a measure of size. Hakozaki-gū's 九間社流造 — nine bays — is among the largest here.

Suwa Taisha has no main hall at all

Run down the designated buildings at Suwa Taisha Kamisha Honmiya and there is no main hall: an offering hall, a worship hall, side halls, a four-legged gate — and that is all. The shrine's own site explains why.

本宮、春宮、秋宮は本殿を持たず、自然そのものを御神体とする古来からの信仰の姿を現在に伝えています。 諏訪大社 official site

The upper shrine's object of worship is the mountain itself; at the lower shrines it is a tree — a cedar at Harumiya, a Japanese yew at Akimiya.

Festivals can be designated too

At 9 shrines it is not a building that is designated but a rite — a rice-planting ceremony, a sacred dance, a fire festival. The dates are on the festival calendar.

52 shrines hold designated treasures

Swords, armour, mirrors, documents — 183 items in all. Each shrine's own page lists them and links straight to the register entry.

48 shrines carry no national designation

To say it once more: that is a fact about the national register, not about the shrine. Prefectural and city designations are common among them, and we have not surveyed those.

Festival calendar　/　Visiting a shrine　/　All shrines

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