Senjokaku means "pavilion of 1000 mats" in Japanese and is the common name of Hokoku Shrine. The name describes the spaciousness of the building, as Senjokaku is approximately the size of one thousand tatami mats. The hall, which dates back to 1587, is located on a small hill just beside Itsukushima Shrine.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three unifiers of Japan, commissioned Senjokaku for the purpose of chanting Buddhist sutras for fallen soldiers. The building was not yet completed when Hideyoshi died in 1598. As Tokugawa Ieyasu took power thereafter, rather than the Toyotomi heirs, the building was never fully completed.
Senjokaku has neither ceilings nor a front entrance, and will surely strike visitors as rather sparse. In 1872, the incomplete building was dedicated to the soul of its founder, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which remains its present religious function. Directly adjacent to Senjokaku stands a five-storied pagoda.
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