Hara Hachimangu & Jingukogo Shrine

 

While walking from Chofu to Mine I stopped in at a couple of shrines. The first a Hachimangu in the village of Hara.

It is said to have been founded around 1420 as a branch of Hakozaki Shrine, the famous Hachiman Shrine involved in the defense against the Mongol invasion in what is now Fukuoka.

As well as the standard Hachiman trio of Ojin, Jingu, and Chuai, it also enshrined the three Munakata princesses.

The shrine has three huge trees, a Gingko, a Sugi, and a Mukunoki, and it is the one of the most interest.

It is the third-largest tree in all of Yamaguchi with some impressive statistics....it is 27 meters tall, with a trunk diameter of 5.3 meters. It is in remarkably good condition and is said to have been planted when the shrine was established, making it about 600 years old. I recently posted about another sacred Mukunoki tree in my neighbourhood.

The shrine is home to a unique dance, Iwato Mai. In the mid Edo Period two men from the village travelled all the way to Izumo to be taught a sacred dance based on the Iwato Myth. I suspect that must have been Sada Shrine near Matsue, the origin of much of the kagura performed nowadays.

The next shrine was Jingukogo Shrine, literally "Empress Jingu" Shrine.

One source says that originally it was a Hachiman Shrine, but in the early 15th Century the spirits of Imimiya Shrine were transferred here.

The main kami is Jingu along with Chuai, Ojin, the Sumiyoshi kami, and Emperor Nintoku.

Whereas Imimiya Shrine is the spot where Chuai fought against the Kumaso, this spot is said to be where Jingu gathered her army for her invasion of Korea.

The grove of trees surrounding the shrine is distinctively very different from the surrounding area and is beleievd to be between 300 and 500 years old.

The oldest tree is said to be a huge Yew tree..... It and the grove are registered natural properties

The previous post in this series was on the walk the day I visited these shrines

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