Sufu Kasuga Shrine & Hinoashi Hachimangu

 

Not far from Shotokuji temple and Jorinji Temple is a Kasuga Shrine with great views over Sufu and the mouth of the Sufu River.

There appear to be few existing records, but as Kasuga Shrine is the family shrine of the powerful Fujiwara family, and the local rulers claim descent from a branch of the Fujiwara family, that makes sense.

The Kasuga Daimyojin consists of Takemikazuchi, Amenokoyane, Futsunishi, and Himegami.

I was impressed with the older-style masks....

About a kilometers away near the mouth of the Sufu River, is Hinoashi Haxchimangu. This shrine does have records.

The governor of Iwami, Fujiwara no Kunikane, established the shrine as a branch of Usa hachimangu in 1114. Thirty years later the shrine was given extensive lands to support it and its festivals. It was the tutelary shrine for 16 villages. The Suo Clan, descendants of Kunikane, made it their family shrine and gave more support. When the Suo moved with the Mori to Nagato a lot of the shrines lands were confiscated.

There is a very popular Inari shrine within the grounds. Over the centuries it has been located at numerous locations.

The previous post in this series on walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage and the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage was on Jorinji Temple.

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.

Shisho Shrine Imazu

 

Shisho Shrine is located on the waters edge on the protected side of a headland in Imazu Bay.

The komainu, lanterns etc all seem to be of very recent origin.

One particularly huge tree stands in from of it.

Imazu was a port used in trade with mainland Asia in ancient times, for a while supplanting nearby Hakata in this role.

It is said that the shrine was established to protect the foreign ships and sailors who arrived in Imazu, though it would seem more likely to spiritually protect from such visitors, as disease and disaster was thought to come from "outside".

As the name suggests, four kami are enshrined here: Amaterasu, Hachiman, Sumiyoshi, and Kasuga. Hachiman and Sumiyoshi were originally cults from northern Kyushu but were very much "national" kami by this time.

The previous post was on the Bishamondo and viewpoint on the nearby Bishamonyama.

Kasuga Shrine, Yukuhashi

On my way out of Yukuhashi, heading towards the coast, I stopped in at a small local shrine whose entrance beckoned me.

Shrines are great stopping places on walks.... a quiet space away from traffic, and often with something to see in terms of statuary, carvings etc.

This one is a Kasuga Shrine, a branch of the famous Kasuga Taisha up in Nara, and therefore enshrining the same gods.

It has obviously been rebuilt quite recently. One thing I am always on the lookout for at shrines are the komainu, as their designs are quite varied. This shrine had quite nice elephant carvings.