Izumo · JP

Shōkokan Treasure Hall

The Shōkokan (彰古館, "Hall of Honoring Antiquity") is a stately two-story wooden building set in the northwest corner of the sacred precincts of Izumo Taisha, one of Japan's oldest and most revered Shinto shrines. Built in 1914 as a public treasure museum, the Shōkokan was the first purpose-built facility in which the shrine's accumulated sacred objects could be displayed for everyday visitors. The building is now permanently closed to the public, but its architecture — registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2015 — remains visible and admired within the shrine grounds. The nearby Treasure Hall inside the Shinkōden building carries on the museum function, displaying the shrine's national treasures and important cultural properties.