Often, a Shinto shrine seems to be made of a single hall. But sometimes this is not the case, some of the buildings being… hidden. A very good example is one of the most famous Shinto shrines from Tokyo, the Asakusa-jinja, which most of the time looks like in this photo: a single, rectangular building.

Actually, the shrine’s architecture includes 2 connected halls, with a single roof, creating an “H” shape: the visible part is the haiden, the hall of worship (or oratory), while the main sanctuary (honden) is hidden in the back. The connecting passage is called ishi-no-ma (which can be translated as the “rock room") and the style is also called Ishi-no-ma-zukuri.

Asakusa Shrine, Tokyo

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