Oda Hachimangu

 

Heading up the Yato River from my home on day 7 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage, I first walked through Kawado, and then the second village was Oda. It was in the middle of Oda that I stopped in at the Omoto "shrine". At the far end of the village the steps lead straight up to the village shrine, a Hachimangu.

Like most shrines in the countryside it is uninhabited and to all intents and purposes seems abandoned.

However, once a year, after harvest, the matsuri is held and the shrine is dusted off, aired, and all-night kagura will be performed.

Once every 4 years they will also hold an Omoto Matsuri, and that is what I posted on in the previous post in this series.

The main road to and from the shrine leads down to the river...

Being a Hachiman shrine the main kami is Ojin, but curiously the Prefectural Shinto Shrine Association says it is combined with Susanoo

Which may explain the second crest next to the hachiman Triple-Tomoe above the fine pair of Kote-e dragons.