Rikitake Kamado Shrine

Rikitake Kamado Shrine

After visiting Nyoirinji Temple, the "Frig Temple" that was number three on the Kyushu pilgrimage I am walking, and the second temple of the day, I carried on roughly SW towards the next temple, and was now walking along the old Nagasaki Highway that connected Nagasaki with Moji.

In the settlement of Rikitake I stopped in at the village shrine which was a branch of Kamado Shrine a little north of here in Dazaifu.

The original Kamado Shrine is said to have been established by Emperor Tenji in 664, on top of the sacred mountain Mount Homan. He moved the political and administrative capital of Kyushu to the base of the mountain, now Dazaifu, as a defensive measure expecting Japan to be attacked by Sila.

More information on his military defeat on the Korean peninsula the year before can be found in some of the posts I did on shrines I visited yesterday further east in Asakura.

Originally it is said he enshrined thousands of kami in Kamado Shrine, though now it is listed as enshrining Tamayorihime, Jingu, and Ojin. A Buddhist priest, Shinren, had a vision of Tamayorihime on Mount Homen a few years after the shrine was originally established.

This branch shrine lists Tamayorihime as the main kami and also lists Yamashita Kagehime and Kora Tamatari, but I can find no information on those two kami.

The shrine did have a small pair of weathered zuijin that were unusual.

Dejima Shrine

Located right next to Manganji on the shore of Lake Shinji, the shrine is quite unusual in that it does not have a torii. It was in all probability part of the the same temple-shrine complex before the Meiji Period. The name of the kami enshrined here also suggest a Buddhist past: Nanagami Daimyojin..... which is in fact seven related kami.

The first is Ninigi, the grandson of Amaterasu sent down from the High Plain of Heaven to rule Japan. Next come Hoori, youngest son of Ninigi but more commonly known as Hikohohodemi or Yamasachihiko. Also enshrined here is Hoori's wife Toyotamahime, daughter of the sea god Ryujin,

After returning from some years living in a palace under the sea Toyotama gave birth to a son Ugayafukiaezu in a famous legend involving a birthing hut. Fukiaezu married his aunt Tamayorihime , also enshrined here, and became the father of the mythical first Emperor Jimmu.

The final two kami here are Konohanasakayuhime, now most commonly associated with Mount Fuji,  the princess who married Ninigi and gave birth to Hoori, and the final kami who I am having difficulty tracing the relationship to the others is Kushiyatama, who is connected to the Kuniyuzuri myth and is I believe connected to a ritual that still occurs not to far from here at Hinomisaki Shrine.

All the other kami are connected to the myths of southern Miyazaki in Kyushu centered around Aoshima Shrine

Yuzu from Kyushu

Nogi Shrine

This Nogi Shrine has absolutely no link to the more famous Nogi Shrine in Tokyo. That one is a twentieth century creation enshrining the "patriotic" General Nogi who committed suicide following the death of Emperor Meiji.

This Nogi Shrine is named after the ancient district of Nogi in Izumo, and is much, much older being listed in the Izumo Fudoki and the Engi Shiki. It was one of the top three shrines of Izumo, along with Kumano Taisha and Sada Shrine, up until the 11th Century when Izumo Taisha was promoted.

The main kami is Amenohiho, the first emissary sent from Amaterasu to convince Izumo to cede their land to Yamato. The Yamato say he joined Okuninushi and didn't report back. The Izumo say he did report back and his son came down to pacify the local kami. Amenohiho is considered the ancestor of the high priests/ governors of Izumo.

There are numerous smaller shrines within the grounds as well as a couple of altars to Kojin, the local land kami represented as a straw snake. Also enshrined here is Onamuchi (Okuninushi), Kotoshironushi, Hachiman, Futsunushi ( the tuteary kami of the Mononobe who played a part in subduing the local kami).

Also enshrined are Kuninotokotachi one of the primal kami of creation, Kuninosazuchi, an earth kami, Izanami, Tamayorihime, Juntoku a thirteenth century Emperor, kamusubi, Ayakashikone... a kami produced before Izanami and Izanagi who I had never heard of before, an Atago shrine, and an Inari shrine.

Umi Hachimangu

Umi Hachimangu is located a little to the east of Fukuoka City. Like all Hachimangu, it enshrines primarily Ojin, the posthumous name of the "emperor" Homuda Wake.

What is unique about this Hachimangu is that it is built on the site where, according to the ancient myths,  Homuda Wake was born, and the place name was changed to Umi, derived from the Japanese word for birth.

Along with Ojin, his mother Jingu is enshrined. Often Hachimangu will have Ojins father Chuai and Ojins wife Himegami enshrined, but here it is Tamayorihime, who is sometimes considered to be an individual, and sometimes considered to be a generic word for Miko.

While I was there a ceremony was going on. It may have been a Purification ceremony, but I suspect it more likely to be a ceremony to pray for safe childbirth, something this shrine is particularly known for.

Naka Homan Shrine

Climbing out of the Fukuoka Plain on a small road that leads over to the next pilgrimage temple I spied a torii and went to investigate and found Naka Homan Shrine.

Less than a kilometer away is Homan Shrine, and I'm guessing this was built as a branch of it in 1675.

The three kami listed are Tamayorihime, Okinagatarashihime, and Homuda Wake. The latter two are more commonly known as Empress Jingu and Emperor Ojin, but this is not called a Hachimangu. According to the myth Jingu gave birth to Ojin not too far from here in Umi.

Exactly who Tamayorihime is remains a mystery. There are several famous kami with the same name as it really just means a woman who lies down with a kami and bears his child. However, Mount Homan is not far away and on it is Kamado Shrine, built to protect Dazaifu from the NE direction. A female kami appeared and said she was Tamayorihime and protected this mountain. The main Homan shrine near here, that this shrine is a branch of, is near a tomb that local legend says contains Tamayorihime. 

The previous post in this series exploring my walk along the Kyushu pilgrimage was on Chiroku Shrine.

Akiyoshi Hachimangu

Akiyoshi Hachiman Shrine in the mountains of Yamaguchi is a fairly typical village shrine. The shrine records date back to the Muromachi period ( 1337-1573) the time Hachiman became the tutelary deity of samurai. There was a major rebuilding in 1771, but the current buildings only date back to 1898.

The shrine is a branch of the original Usa Hachimangu in northern Kyushu, which is a little unusual in that most Hachiman shrines are branches of the Iwashimizu Hachimangu near Kyoto, itself a branch of Usa Hachimangu. The main kami are Ojin and his mother Jingu, though there are some interesting secondary kami.

The statue of an Ox suggests Tenjin. Tamayorihime is listed. It may be referring to the Tamayorihime that is connected to the Kamigamo shrine in Kyoto, but it may refer to any other "divine bride", that is to say a woman who has been impregnated by a kami. Jinushigami is also listed. Jinushigami is a kami of a piece of land, but seems to be connected particularly to land that has been "opened up" and turned from wilderness into agricultural land.

The temple bell at the shrine most probably came from Shofukuji, the temple that occupied the same site as the shrine. It would have been destroyed in early Meiji with the shinbutsu bunri, separation of buddhas and kami.

The most interesting kami enshrined here, for me at least, is Kudara no kuni Mikado. Kudara was the Korean kingdom in the SW of the Korean Peninsular. Mikado means ruler, so the kami is a ruler of Paekche, the Korean country that had the closest ties to the Yamato rulers, and quite possibly the line of rulers from Ojin might well have been Kudaran.

I have seen rabbits carved into the centre of lintels at shrines and I thought it meant the shrine was constructed in the year of the rabbit, but I have never seen any of the other zodiac animals carved in the same position so that seems unlikely. One more mystery to solve....

This ema shows a treasure ship with 2 dogs. This almost certainly was left at the shrine in a Dog Year....

Shimogamo Shrine

Shimogamo Shrine is a major shrine complex in Kyoto and a UNESCO World heritage site.

The proper name is Kamomioya Shrine, and Shimogamo means Lower Shrine as opposed to Kamigamo, Upper Shrine, another major shrine complex not far away.

Shimogamo is located where the kamo River and the Takano River meet and the shrine was founded probably in the sixth century, many centuries before Kyoto (Heiankyo) was founded.

It was founded by the Kamo family when they moved here from the Nara Basin to control the immigrant clans who had settled this area. Some believe the Kamo were themselves of Korean origin and they certainly have close links with the Hata clan who were certainly of non-Japanese origins.

The Kamo, and the Hata, both also have strong connections with Izumo. In Katsuragi, where the Kamo moved here from, is enshrined one of Okuninushi' sons, and this is generally interpreted to mean that the area was settled by people from Izumo, and it has been suggested that the Hata spent time in Izumo before moving to the Yamato area.

The shrine is located within all that remains of the Tadatsuno mori, and ancient forest, and many of the older trees have shimenawa around them. There are numerous sub-shrines within the grounds.

When Kyoto was founded the Kamo shrines were chosen to protect the palace from the NE, which is where evil was believed to come. With Imperial patronage the shrine grew to its current impressive size.

The shrine contains many examples of Edo Period architecture, including this bridge, the Taikobashi.

Shimogamo is also one of the sites of the famous Aoi matsuri.

The main kami enshrined here are Kamotaketsunumi and Tamayorihime Kamotaketsunumi is considered the founder of the Kamo clan. He is equated with Yatagarasu, the three-legged crow that guided the mythical first Emperor Jimmu to Yamato. One genealogy, in the Kogoshui I believe, has him being a descendant of Okuninushi, once again strengthening the connection to Izumo.

Tamayorihime was one of his daughters who "lay" with the Thunder God Honoikazuchi and gave birth to Wakeikazuchi who is enshrined at Kamigamo Shrine.