mikeden　御饌殿

KEY WORD :　architecture / shrines

Also pronounced mikedono. A daily offering hall at a shrine. The most important example is in the northeast corner of the main sanctuary of the outer shrine, Gekuu 外宮, at Ise Jinguu 伊勢神宮. Every morning and evening, priests conduct a ceremony offering food to the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu Oomikami 天照大御神, venerated in the inner sanctuary, Naikuu 内宮, and Toyouke Oomikami 豊受大御神, the chief deity of the Outer Shrine. The building retains the ancient method of wall construction called itakura 板倉, associated with the proto-historic type of raised floor storehouse. According to some scholars, this type of building was originally used for the east and west treasure halls, higashi-nishi houden 東西宝殿, the offering hall *heiden 弊殿, the four storehouses of the mikura-in 御倉院, and all the main sanctuaries of subsidiary shrines. However, the style was lost during the 15c and 16c when for over one hundred years, the custom of completely renewing the major shrine buildings ceased because of incessant civil war. The plan is a simple 3×2 bays, and has free-standing sunken pillars *hottatebashira 掘立柱, which support each end of the ridge. The entrances are positioned in the middle bays, front and back, with zigzag steps *gangi hashigo 雁木梯子, hewed from a single piece of timber. The twelve pillars supporting the floor do not extend above floor level. The roof is supported by board walls, transverse beams bearing struts, and by the rafters. There are forked finials *chigi 千木, on each end and five billets *katsuogi 堅魚木. The gable roof is covered with thatch. See *shinsenjo 神饌所. Outside of Ise Jinguu it is sometimes called gokuusho 御供所. Examples: Kamo Wakeikazuchi Jinja 賀茂別雷神社, Higashi Gokuusho 東御供所, Nishi Gokuusho 西御供所, (1628) in Kyoto.

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