A little further along the road to Akiyoshidai after visiting the Hirohata Hachiman Shrine, yet another large hachiman shrine appeared.
Iwanaga Hachimangu had a very long approach with numerous torii....
It is claimed to be the oldest shrine in the area, being founded in 715.
The curious thing is they say it was enshrined from Hyuga, now Miyazaki. All the other Hachiman shrines in western Honshu at around that time are enshrined from Usa. Usa was the original Hachiman shrine and as the cult spread to Honshu due to the association of Hachiman with the founding of the Great Buddha at Nara, it gradually became a national cult.
However, before it spread to Honshu, it had spread somewhat around Kyushu. I came across a couple of Hachiman shrines in southern Fukuoka that had been established very early on. However, I had not found one in Miyazaki. The head priestess of Usa Hachiman had led an army earlier to suppress "revolt" in the southern part of Kyushu, so maybe that explains it.
Like many shrines, this one has been relocated several times, although the exact dates are unknown. It changed its name to Iwanaga in 1922, but it is unclear what it was called before.
Like other hachiman shrines in the area, the kami selection is Ojin, Jingu, and the three Munakata princesses.
Within the grounds is a Tenmangu, and an Arajinja enshrining Susanoo.
In the 1980's a small kofun with an unusual stone-lined coffin chamber was excavated nearby. It was relocated the shrine grounds to keep it safe from the expanding limestone mining.
The final photo shows a quite common feature at many shrines..... a naval artillery shell!!...almost certainly dating to just after the Russo-japanese War at the start of the twentieth century.
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