Hakozakigu Shrine

 

Hakozaki Shrine was founded in 923 when the wakemitama, divided spirit, was enshrined here in Hakata after being brought from the Daibu Hachiman Shrine in what is now Iizuka.

By the 12th century it had become the Ichinomiys, the highest ranked shrine in the province.

During the first Mongol Invasion in 1274 the shrine was burned down.

When the shrine was rebuilt the Emperor Kemeyama sent a scroll with the message "May the enemy nations prostrate themselves (in defeat)" The carved sign above the main gate has this inscription in a copy of the emperors own hand. There are however various theories about exactly which emperors sent the inscription first, and when. 

The shrine burned down several more times during wars, and when Hideyoshi had his campaign to subdue Kyushu he made Hakozaki Shrine his headquarters.

The main gate, photo 1 above, and several buildings are all Important Cultural Properties and date to the mid 16th century when the shrine was rebuilt by Ouchi Yoshitaka.

The current carving of the inscription above the gate dates from 1573 when the gate was rebuilt.

The shrine covers a very large area and is quite spacious, though paintings show that prior to 1868 there were many pagodas and other Buddhist structures within the ground.

Originally just a short distance from the sea, as the land has encroached on the sea the road leading to the shrine from the water has gotten longer.

Being a Hachiman shrine, the primary kami are Ojin, Jingu, and Tamayorihime.

In the penultimate photo below, a red fence encircles a pine tree known as the Box Pine. It is said that when Ojin was born, not far away in the hills overlooking what is now Fukuoka, his umbilical cord was placed in a box and buried on this spot.

Hakozaki means "Cape of the box".

I visited early in the morning of  76th day of my walk along the Kyushu 108 temple Pilgrimage. The previous post was on a small. local Kumano Shrine south of Fukuoka City

Shisho Shrine Imazu

 

Shisho Shrine is located on the waters edge on the protected side of a headland in Imazu Bay.

The komainu, lanterns etc all seem to be of very recent origin.

One particularly huge tree stands in from of it.

Imazu was a port used in trade with mainland Asia in ancient times, for a while supplanting nearby Hakata in this role.

It is said that the shrine was established to protect the foreign ships and sailors who arrived in Imazu, though it would seem more likely to spiritually protect from such visitors, as disease and disaster was thought to come from "outside".

As the name suggests, four kami are enshrined here: Amaterasu, Hachiman, Sumiyoshi, and Kasuga. Hachiman and Sumiyoshi were originally cults from northern Kyushu but were very much "national" kami by this time.

The previous post was on the Bishamondo and viewpoint on the nearby Bishamonyama.

Chinkaiseki Hachimangu Shrine Itoshima

 

Situated on a hilltop overlooking the sea and noted for its sunset views, Chinkaiseki Hachimangu traces its roots back to the mythical Empress Jingu, just like the last shrine I visited in Karatsu, Kumonohara Shrine.

The chinkaiseki of the name refer to a pair of smooth stones Jingu picked up and carried in her sleeves while she "subdued" the Korean Peninsula. Later she returned the stones here, though they cannot be seen.

The story is recorded in the Kojiki as well as in a poem in the Manyoshu.

Stones of various kinds can be found at the shrine.... halfway up the slope, at the site of what was earlier the main hall, is a small structure containing three stones. The Yin Yang stones resemble the genitals of male and female, and the stone on the right is said to be a sainokami, the guardian of village borders, often represented as a phallic stone and later by a "cute" male-female pair.

There is a Konpira Shrine, and a Sarutahiko shrine, and several sacred stones of different kinds.

This was the last stop on day 73 of my walk. I was coming down with some kind of cold so I took the train into Fukuoka and planned a rest day the next day. The previous post in this series was on the neighbouring Shinkoin Temple.

Kameyama Hachimangu Shrine Sasebo

 

Located on top of a small hill in what is now central Sasebo, Kameyama Hachimangu is by far the biggest and most important shrine in Sasebo.

The shrine claims to have been founded directly from Usa Hachiman Shrine in the late 7th century.

At that time it was a Kyushu cult and had not yet been adopted nationally, nor was it yet associated with the legendary emperor Ojin.

The Hachiman cult was adopted by the samurai and so assumed major importance in later Japanese history, so when Sasebo became a major naval port in the late 19th and  twentieth centuies the shrine was patronized by the local naval officers.

Like much of central Sasebo, the shrine was completely destroyed by bombing in 1945.

As a Hachman shrine the main kami are Ojin, his mother Jingu, and his father Chuai. Unusually Nintoku, his son, is also listed here. There are also numerous secondary shrines within the grounds.

In the modern, postwar ranking of shrines Kameyama Hachiman is listed as Beppyo, which means more important than a regular shrine.

I was exploring Sasebo at the end of day 71 of my Kyushu pilgrimage walk as I had been based in Sasebo for several days. The previous post was on Mimasakachinju Shrine.

Wakamiya Hachimangu & Chosokabe Motochika

 

The southern approach to Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine in Nagahama, Kochi is through a long narrow ark, Chinjunomri.

Some way along the path you pass a huge statue of the samurai warlord Motochika Chosokabe, a hero to many in Shikoku.

For any of you who have walked the Shikoku pilgrimage, you will be well aware of Chosokabe as he destroyed a large number of the pilgrimage temples in his "unification" of Shikoku.

In 1560, as a young man under his warlord father, he took part in his first battle to attack nearby Nagahama Castle. On the eve of battle he camped in the grounds of Wakamiya Shrine and spent the night praying for victory.

Just north of here at the base of the mountain where Nagahama Castle stood is Sekkeiji Temple, the family temple of Motochika, and next door is Hata Shrine enshrining Motochika. His grave is also here.

After succeeding his father, Motochika spent ten years winning control over all of Tosa province.

He then spent 15 years taking over almost the whole of Shikoku but was finally undone by Hideyoshi.

The shrine was established in 1185 to protect the area which was land belonging to the Rokujo Wakamiya Hachimangu established in Kyoto by Monamoto Yoritomo, the first Kamakura Shogun.

It was established as a branch of Iwashimizu Hachimangu, the shrine south of Kyoto that two-thirds of all Hachiman shrines trace their origin to.

Hachiman had been adopted by the Minamoto as their tutelary deity and so was very popular among samurai.

After Chosokabe's military success following prayers here, this shrine became particularly renowned for prayers for victory.

The architecture here is unique, and said to have been designed by Chosokabe himself.

When seen in plan view is is said to resemble a dragonfly, considered a victorious and auspicious insect for samurai.

There are numerous secondary shrines within the grounds including a Tenjin Shrine which they list as enshrining Amenomikumari, a female kami connected to estuaries and irrigation. They mention also Sugawara Michizane.

There is also a Kojin Shrine, a Misa Shrine, a Sanja Shrine, and a Hayatosha.

The previous post in this series exploring things seen and encountered between the temples on the Shikoku Ohenro pilgrimage was the nearby museum to Ryoma Sakamoto.