Ikuta Shrine Sannomiya

 

Ikuta Shrine is the most important shrine in Sannomiya, part of Kobe in Hyogo. It was the third-ranked shrine in the province, the sannomiya, which is why the area around it took that name.

My room for the night was nearby so I passed through the grounds on my way there.

A "shinto" wedding was taking place. As I have mentioned before, Shinto Weddings are a very modern thing and not at all traditional.

Christian weddings have a much older history in Japan than Shinto weddings. The first shinto wedding was in 1904 for the Crown Prince. It was modelled on royal weddings of Europe and especially the UK.

Later a few elites had Shinto weddings and before the war it became popular with salarymen and army officers who chose it because it was modern and untraditional. Ikuta Shrine is known to have performed shinto weddings in the prewar years.

In 1945 it was suddenly made traditional and has gained in popularity since then.

According to myth, Ikuta Shrine was established by Empress Jingu when her ship was becalmed here.

She was told by the kami Wakahirume that she wished to stay here, so Jingu set up the shrine. Wakhirume is considered to be either  a younger sister of Amaterasu, although sometimes she is thought of as a daughter of Amaterasu or even Amaterasu as a girl.

Over the centuries numerous other shrines have been made inside the grounds, including Sumiyoshi, Hachiman, Suwa, Hiyoshi, Inari, and a Sai shrine. As is evident in the final photo, Ikuta Shrine is one of the increasing number of shrines "specializing" in matchmaking.

This visit was at the end of my third day walking the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage. The previous post was on one of the Inari shrines at Ikuta.