What will you build with miyadaiku craftsmanship?

For those planning shrine construction

Hanamasu Mokko Shaji Kenchiku is a miyadaiku shrine and temple builder based in Isehara, Kanagawa, building shrines throughout the Kanto region. From new main halls, worship halls and shrine offices to repairing aging buildings, preserving cultural property architecture and repairing mikoshi, we handle everything with traditional joinery. From discussing repair costs to construction, our miyadaiku approach every stage with sincerity.

Main hall, worship hall and shrine office

We faithfully build the core shrine buildings: the main and worship halls at the heart of the sacred precinct and the shrine office that supports daily rites and administration. We correctly recreate traditional styles such as shinmei, taisha, sumiyoshi and nagare, creating spaces that serve as the guardian of the community for generations.

Zuishinmon gate, mizugaki and tamagaki fences

We also reliably build important structures such as the zuishinmon and romon gates at the entrance to the precinct, the mizugaki and tamagaki fences that mark the sacred area, and the bridges along the approach. Based on traditional construction, we build sturdy structures that withstand earthquakes, wind and snow and last into the future.

Renovation, restoration and fabrication

From restoring old shrine buildings to making shrine fittings and mikoshi, our skilled miyadaiku bring back their original beauty. We also restore cultural property buildings, passing Japan's architectural heritage on to the next generation.

Temizuya, Inari shrines and small shrines

We build every structure in the precinct, including subsidiary shrines, temizuya, Inari shrines and small shrines. Even small buildings are built sincerely with the pride of a miyadaiku.

From new shrine sanctuaries, worship halls, and offices to repairs and renovations of aging shrines, cultural property conservation, and portable shrine repairs, our skilled miyadaiku carpenters handle every stage. We faithfully carry on historic styles such as Shinmei-zukuri, Taisha-zukuri, and Nagare-zukuri to create sacred spaces cherished as homes of community guardian deities. Serving the Kanto region and all of Japan. Start with a free site survey and preliminary estimate.

Shrine grounds contain various facilities centered on the main sanctuary housing the deity, including a worship hall and offices for priests. Each carries the dignity and meaning distinctive to shrine architecture.

Main sanctuary

The shrine's central building and most sacred space houses the sacred object of worship. Only priests may enter. Architectural styles such as Shinmei-zukuri, Nagare-zukuri, and Irimoya-zukuri are inherited according to each shrine's history.

Worship hall

A building where visitors pray before the deity. Located in front of the main sanctuary, it has a bell and offering box and serves as the familiar face of the shrine for the local community.

Shrine office

The shrine office handles priests' work, festival preparations, and distribution of amulets and goshuin seals. As a point of contact with visitors, it has increasingly become accessible and multifunctional.

Assembly hall

A multipurpose facility for festivals, Shinto weddings, and community gatherings. Its design must retain traditional Japanese aesthetics while accommodating modern uses.

Small shrine

Small shrines scattered around the grounds. Smaller than subsidiary shrines, they individually enshrine particular deities or local objects of worship and add character to the landscape.

Ritual implement storehouse

A storehouse for ritual implements, garments, and portable shrine components. Proper storage conditions and sturdy construction are needed to protect these valuables from moisture and pests.

Torii gate

A gateway marking the boundary between sacred and secular realms. Forms include Shinmei and Myojin torii, with materials such as wood, stone, and copper. As symbols of shrine architecture, their construction and maintenance require specialist skills.

Purification pavilion

A facility for purification before worship, with a basin of flowing water and ladles. It requires a steady supply of clean water. Automatic taps have become more common for infection prevention.

Tamagaki fence

A fence surrounding the sanctuary or shrine grounds. It defines the sacred area, prevents intrusion, and frames the landscape. Materials include stone, wood, and copper.

Inari shrine

A shrine within the grounds dedicated to Inari. Following the head shrine, Fushimi Inari Taisha, it features vermilion torii and shrine buildings and attracts devotion to the deity of prosperous business and abundant harvests.

Subsidiary shrine

A small shrine attached to the main shrine. It enshrines a deity closely connected to the principal deity or a local deity originally worshipped on the site, complementing the dignity of the shrine grounds.

Household shrine

An indoor shelf for worshipping deities in homes, shops, and offices. Like a miniature shrine, it requires intricate work embodying miyadaiku craftsmanship.

Portable shrine

A palanquin carrying the deity during festivals. A moving work of art combining lacquerwork, metalwork, carving, and other miyadaiku skills, it requires regular restoration and suitable storage.

Each facility requires distinct architectural knowledge and skills. Hanamasu Mokko's miyadaiku carpenters carefully apply inherited craftsmanship to everything from the overall design of shrine grounds to detailed portable shrine repairs.

New construction, renovation, and cultural property restoration for all temple complex buildings, including main halls, gates, priests' quarters, and bell towers. We understand Zenshuyo, Daibutsuyo, Wayo, and Setchuyo styles according to each Buddhist school and create complexes befitting the prestige of its head temple. We also welcome seismic reinforcement and partial repair inquiries, with comprehensive support including explanatory materials for parishioners.

Temple architecture brings multiple buildings together into a single complex. Hanamasu Mokko handles new construction, restoration, and renovation of each of the following halls.

Main hall

The temple's central and most important hall houses its principal image. As the heart of worship and services, it requires a dignified design following the Buddhist school's architectural style.

Founder's hall

A hall housing a statue or memorial tablet of the temple's founder. A place of gratitude and reverence for the founder, it has a particularly tranquil atmosphere within the grounds.

Portrait hall

A hall housing portraits of a Buddhist school's founder or eminent priests. In Jodo Shinshu it enshrines Shinran, and in Jodo-shu, Honen, welcoming many worshippers.

Patriarch's hall

A hall dedicated to the patriarchs of a Buddhist school. Built to express gratitude to eminent priests who passed down the teachings, it enshrines different figures according to the school.

Columbarium

A facility housing parishioners' remains. It plays a vital role connecting temples and parishioners through perpetual memorial care and anniversary services, with diverse forms reflecting changing needs.

Treasure hall

A facility for storing and displaying temple treasures and cultural properties. It provides suitable preservation and disaster protection for statues, Buddhist paintings, scriptures, and old documents, passing temple history and culture to future generations.

Pagoda

Pagodas, such as five-story and three-story towers, house Buddhist relics. As temple symbols, they shape the grounds' landscape, and their intricate timber structures embody the finest miyadaiku skills.

Bell tower

A building housing the temple bell. Rung to mark time and signal services, it is the temple's voice, accompanying the daily lives of local people.

Parishioners' hall

A gathering place for parishioners and worshippers. Used for meals after services, parish representatives' meetings, and community exchanges, it is a modern element connecting the temple with local society.

Priests' quarters

The temple's kitchen and living quarters. As the monks' everyday living space and a practical building for preparing Buddhist vegetarian meals during services, it must combine functionality with dignity.

Guest hall

A reception room for guests. This formal space welcomes the head temple's abbot and important visitors, with dignified furnishings incorporating shoin-style design.

Buddhist altar platform

A platform for the principal Buddhist image. Modeled on Mount Sumeru, the center of Buddhist cosmology, it is the most sacred place, adorned with lacquer and gold leaf.

Temple complex planning

The overall layout plan for temple grounds. This comprehensive design coordinates buildings, circulation, orientation, and feng shui to create a harmonious sacred precinct.

Each hall requires distinct architectural knowledge and skills. Hanamasu Mokko's miyadaiku carpenters carefully apply inherited craftsmanship to everything from the temple complex's overall design to the fine ornamentation of altar platforms.

Where carpentry skill shines

What beauty cannot be shown in drawings?

Hanamasu's carpenters faithfully inherit advanced traditional layout geometry and timber joinery, and refine their understanding of wood and use of planes and chisels every day. The delicate flowing curves cannot be captured in drawings: this is where miyadaiku craftsmanship truly shines.

Above all, before being a carpenter, one must remain a person with a sincere and pure heart. Humility and this purity of heart give rise to beautiful forms. This too is beauty that drawings cannot show.

Shrines and temples that house deities and Buddhas are crafted with advanced miyadaiku skills and, above all, a pure heart, proper attitude, and positive spirit. This gives them an unseen, dignified beauty. Though buildings, these halls become more than objects: they are places brought to life by miyadaiku hands, living alongside their communities for years to come. Their beauty emerges through use by worshippers—the highest expression of functional beauty, and the beauty of true quality and value.

Could what you truly want to achieve be something beyond a building?

What clients truly wish to achieve is often more than a building. At its root is the value of using it or a vision of the future: a place where people gather smiling, a peaceful refuge, a space to share feelings, mark life's memories together, preserve what has been inherited, or strengthen and spread shared beliefs. What do you truly hope for? Take this opportunity to think together and share those hopes with Hanamasu's carpenters.

A carpenter's deep love of wood

At Hanamasu Mokko, you can specify the origin of your timber. We seek sacred wood from places important to you—local forests, Mount Fuji, or the region of your head shrine or temple—and incorporate it into your building.

Sustainable use of wood

When old timber that supported a main hall has fulfilled its role, or trees on site must be felled for development, we preserve their precious life by turning them into furniture, pillars, or charcoal for the new building as part of our sustainable use of wood.

Hanamasu's history

Mokko in Hanamasu Mokko expresses our commitment to crafting with wood. Hanamasu is the longstanding trade name of a family business making floral ornaments for shrines and temples, founded in Kan'ei 17. Its current representative is the 14th generation of Hanamasu in Asakusa, Tokyo, carrying on the family's spirit of craftsmanship as a miyadaiku carpenter.

No two shrine or temple renovations are alike; each presents a series of unexpected challenges.

For example, even when ground movement has significantly displaced an old building, miyadaiku carpenters draw on years of experience, carefully assess the site, and carry out reliable repairs.

This cannot be drawn in plans or expressed by others; it exists only in the miyadaiku carpenter's mind, a true black box of knowledge passed down for １４００ years.

A discerning eye developed through experience

Through many years of miyadaiku training, carpenters learn to converse with their tools and wood. They can instantly envision where and how a piece of timber should be used. Their cutting is decisive and their work assured.

A miyadaiku carpenter's discerning eye selects beautiful timber for visible areas and ordinary materials for hidden areas, without relying solely on expensive wood.

Miyadaiku timber joinery combines mastery of hand tools with 1400 years of inherited craftsmanship

Shrines and temples are beautiful buildings whose character deepens with use and age. Completion is not the end of a wooden building's story; it marks the true beginning of the relationship between clients and miyadaiku carpenters.

We often hear from clients who hired distant shrine and temple builders and then struggled to arrange maintenance or small jobs. Choose miyadaiku carpenters in Kanagawa and Tokyo to preserve your buildings for years to come. Always nearby, we can respond promptly with hand tools, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Our representative loves wood and carpentry and intends to remain a craftsman for life, carefully maintaining the shrines and temples he has worked on. He visits sites daily, works with his own tools, and checks every detail. This close personal relationship offers lasting reassurance. First, get to know Hanamasu Mokko.

Have years passed without construction funds or prospects for a construction committee or other preparations? There is 1 way to move forward: take the first step. Consult Hanamasu Mokko about turning long-held hopes and ideas into action. Our ability to think alongside you toward the same goal, together with specialist, architectural, and legal knowledge, the psychology of well-being, and examples of completed projects, will be essential support.

Hanamasu Mokko offers free lectures for worshippers and organizations, with an enjoyable 1-hour introduction to achieving an ideal shrine or temple on a limited budget, and bus tours exploring wood through forestry and sawmilling. Our specialist knowledge also draws on the psychology of well-being to help people gather at shrines and temples, providing useful insights for the future. Every long journey begins with a single step.

One Team Cost, Simple Cost

A carpenter's discerning selection of timber avoids waste. And because our manager is also a craftsman, unnecessary management costs are avoided.

Where possible, we hire craftspeople from the local community or congregation in ten trades: carpentry, stonemasonry, plastering, roofing, carving, gardening, scaffolding, joinery, tatami making, and electrical and plumbing work. Those involved continue to support the building for years to come—a practical, resourceful use of local materials and skills.

Avoiding waste also makes pricing simple. Hanamasu Mokko provides valuable buildings using quality materials while keeping costs simple. We consider your budget from your perspective and propose solutions as one team working toward the same goal.

An authentic tea house experience anywhere

An authentic tea house experience anywhere — a mobile tea house that carries the spirit of Japanese elegance and play

The "Mobile Tea House" is an authentic, movable tea house carrying the spirit of Japanese elegance and play. Combining the "play" of tea and a hermitage that "travels" the world, it turns experience into a product and tours the world as cultural IP.

You can use an authentic tea house in many places such as event venues, exhibitions, hotels and corporate facilities. Using miyadaiku skills, it recreates the atmosphere of a traditional tea house. It also serves overseas exhibitions, hotels and cultural diplomacy, offering an experience that plays with the world and connects cultures.

A traveling tea house built with miyadaiku skill

Features of the Mobile Tea House

Movable design

Transported by truck and installable anywhere. Setup and removal are quick, ideal for short-term use at events and exhibitions.

Miyadaiku skill

Using traditional miyadaiku skills, it recreates the atmosphere of an authentic tea house. Nail-free joinery and craftsmanship shine throughout.

Ready to tour overseas

Ready for overseas exhibitions, hotels and cultural diplomacy, sharing Japanese tradition with the world as a bridge between cultures.

Where it is used

Events and exhibitions

Offers visitors a special experience at corporate events, regional events and cultural festivals.

Hotels and ryokan

Installed in lobbies and gardens so guests can feel Japanese tradition up close.

Corporate facilities

Installed in special spaces in office and commercial buildings for VIP hospitality and company events.

Overseas tours

Exhibited at overseas shows and cultural exchange events, sharing Japanese architectural skill and tea culture with the world.

Miyadaiku SDGs: a sustainable tea house

The Mobile Tea House is made mainly of thinned timber that protects headwater forests. It is a sustainable tea house that protects forests and animals, supplies drinking water to towns and protects the sea, seaweed and fish.

Protecting headwater forests

Its main material is timber thinned to protect headwater forests. Using a certain amount of thinned timber in towns protects forests and animals.

A circular tea house

Not disposable after an event, it can be assembled and dismantled many times — a truly sustainable tea house.

Protecting the water cycle

Protecting forests supplies towns with drinking water and protects the sea, seaweed and fish. The Mobile Tea House also helps protect the water cycle.

Returning sales to society

Net profits are used to protect headwater forests, train young miyadaiku and protect cultural buildings.