Togo Hachimangu

The entrance to the long approach to Togo Hachimangu is, like many shrines here on the Kunisaki Peninsula, flanked by a pair of stone Nio. This pair look as if they are having a conversation by cellphone.

In the grounds are several smaller shrines, one almost certainly being the local land kami that would have been enshrined here before the Hachiman shrine was. The Hachiman cult spread in this area centuries before on Honshu.

There was no signboard and I can find no other information, though for sure the prefecture has records on all the shrines I don't have the book for Oita.

The Honden is in traditional Usa Hachiman style, This is on the old pilgrimage route that started at Usa Hachimangu and went into and around the many sacred sites scattered across the peninsula. From here the land rises more steeply towards the high point at the middle of the peninsula.

There was no name attached to this small statue, though he is holding a shaku, a flat wooden scepter used nowadays primarily by Shinto priests, though in historical times it was used by aristocrats during rituals.