Hamada Hachiman Shrine

There are steps leading up to Hamada Hachiman Shrine.

More than 100 of them.

There are steps leading up to most shrines and temples.

I did a rough calculation, and figure I must have climbed more than a million by now.

The steps and road to the steps lead back in a straight line to where Hamada castle stood on its hill overlooking Hamada, as this shrine was the tutelary shrine for the lords of Hamada.

Hachiman, kami of war, tutelary deity of all samurai.

It's a fairly standard Hachiman shrine, though I noticed on my last visit that it had a whole new set of front doors.

Behind the main shrine is a small secondary shrine, a Densha, some type of rice paddy kami, and a small old Inari shrine.

Being hamada, of course there is a kagura den.

To the side of the main shrine is a second, much larger Inari shrine. This was moved here from a few hundred metres away about 30 years ago. The original shrine was established by a son of the lord about 400 years ago.

Though its locally known simply as Hamada Hachimangu, its real name is Hisamitsuyama Hachimangu.