Gakudo, Votive Tablet Display Hall 額堂

Official explanation

Important Cultural Property

This magnificent structure is the Gakudo, where votive offerings from worshippers, including tablets inscribed with prayers and wishes called ema (tablets with pictures of horses), are displayed. Built in 1861, this is Naritasan Shinshoji Temple's second Gakudo. The first, dedicated by the famous Kabuki actor Danjuro Ichikawa VII (1791–1859) in 1821, tragically burned down in 1965.

Read the full explanation

The Gakudo is where votive offerings from worshippers, including tablets inscribed with prayers and wishes called ema, which have a horse painted on them, are displayed. Originally, live horses were offered to the gods. Later, these plaques with a painting of a horse were offered in place of an actual horse.

There have been two Gakudo at Shinshoji. This is the second, built in 1861. The first building burned down in a fire in 1965. Many of the important ema that were displayed in the first Gakudo are now preserved in the Reikokan as valuable cultural properties. The stone statue of the famous Kabuki actor Danjuro Ichikawa VII (1791–1859), who dedicated the first Gakudo to Naritasan Shinshoji Temple in 1821, was relocated after the fire.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.