Shirahige Shrine Asagiri

Shirahige Jinja

By lunchtime of the 40th day along the Kyushu Pilgrimage the mist had all disappeared and it was yet another glorious, late November day. After having stopped in at a handful of small, local shrines I reached a rather grander affair.

Shirahige Shrine was built at the base of a small mountain that once had a small castle and was the focal point for the area. It was a large shrine with multiple secondary shrines in the grounds and was obviously supported by the local lord of the castle.

There are a lot of Shirahige shrines around the country, branches of the Shirahige Shrine on lake Biwa near Kyoto. They enshrine a Korean king who settled in the Shiga area. This Shirahige shrine had no apparent connection with that one.

All the kami enshrined here relate to the founding myths of Jimmu, the mythical first emperorr. The primary kami is Ugayafukiaezu, the father of Jimmu, and also Hikohohodemi, hikoitsuse, and Inainomikpto are enshrined here.

There was also a dedicated area for archery, something only a few shrines have.

Sunrise at Shirahige Shrine

Shirahige

Shirahige Shrine is located on the western shore of Lake Biwa in what is now Shiga. It is home to one of the famous "floating torii", shrine gates set in water and a place where many people gather to watch sunrise.

It is said that on the equinoxes the sun rises through the gate, though I was here a few days before the winter solstice so it rose to the north of the gate. I was surprised how many people came before dawn to such a relatively remote spot.

Shirahige Shrine is the head shrine of about 300 Shirahige shrines across Japan, but this was the first time I had visited. I had visited other Shirahige shrines before and was intrigued by its origin. This area, called Omi in ancient times, was heavily settled by immigrants from the Korean Peninsula, like the area that later became Kyoto. Shirahige was a Korean deity, and the name means "White Whiskers"

15 years ago this information was easy to find, though nowadays it seems harder. Most sources don't mention the Korean origin anymore. Maybe a result of the dumbing down of the web that now overwhelms us with "popular" and  simple facts, clickbait, and the information and disinformation that  powerful forces in society prefer spread.

Asuka Nimasu Shrine

Asuka Nimasu Shrine in Asuka, the ancient capital of early Japan is a very old shrine and is one of the possible sources of the name of Asuka.

The three main kami enshrined here are Kotoshironushi, Takamimusubi, and Kayanarumi.

Kotoshironushi is an Izumo kami, one of Okuninushi's sons, nowadays equated with Ebisu. Kayanarumi is a daughter of Kotoshironushi, and Takamimusubi is one of the three "creator" kami. In some versions of the Kuniyuzuri myth that explains the ceding of Japan from Okuninushi to the Yamato, it is Takamimusubi who orders the process and not Amaterasu, and in fact Ninigi who descends to rule over Japan is the grandson of both Amaterasu and Takamimusubi.

Kayanarumi is the most interesting of the three, and an alternate name for her is Asuka no Kannabi mi Hime no kami, and this relates to what happened after Kuniyuzuri. Okuninushi decided to place himself and several of his relatives in the Kannabi (sacred mountains) surrounding Yamato, and Kayanarumi was placed in a mountain in Asuka, so it seems likely that she was the original main kami of the shrine.

There are a lot of secondary shrines within the grounds, enshrining Onamuchi (the name of Okuninushi enshrined in nearby Miwa), Oyamazumi, an Asuka Yamaguchi Shrine, and Sarutahiko.

There is also an Inari Shrine, one for Konpira, one for Daijingu, and one for Shirahige, a Korean god brought over with immigrants who settled in the Lake Biwa area.

When we look at some of the things for sale in the small office of the shrine it becomes clear what the focus of the shrine is,..... fertility!

This is a male/female sake cup.

The shrine is home to a famous matsuri, the Onda matsuri, which includes a performance with masked dancers that includes explicit representations of the sex act.