Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine
Encyclopedia
is the most important Shinto
shrine in the city of Kamakura
, Kanagawa Prefecture
, Japan
. The shrine is at the geographical and cultural center of the city of Kamakura, which has largely grown around it.
At the left of its great stone stairway stood a 1000-year old ginkgo tree, which was uprooted by a storm in the early hours of March 10, 2010. The shrine is an Important Cultural Property
.
in Zaimokuza
where tiny Moto Hachiman
now stands and dedicated to the Emperor Ōjin
, (deified with the name Hachiman
, tutelary kami
of warriors), his mother Empress Jingu
and his wife Hime-gami. Minamoto no Yoritomo
, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate
, moved it to its present location in 1191 and invited Hachiman
A kami is transferred to a new location through a process called kanjō
. to reside in the new location to protect his government.
1, 26th day of the 1st month),Gregorian date obtained directly from the original Nengō using Nengocalc shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo
was coming down from Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū 's Senior Shrine after assisting to a ceremony celebrating his nomination to Udaijin
. His nephew Kugyō
, son of second shogun Minamoto no Yoriie
, came out from next to the stone stairway of the shrine, then suddenly attacked and assassinated him. (No contemporary text mentions the tree). For his act he was himself beheaded a few hours later, thus bringing the Seiwa Genji
line of the Minamoto clan and their rule in Kamakura to a sudden end.
Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū is now just a Shinto shrine but, for the almost 700 years from its foundation until the of 1868, its name was and it was also a Buddhist temple, one of the oldest in Kamakura. The mixing of Buddhism and kami worship in shrine-temple complexes like Tsurugaoka called jingū-ji
had been normal for centuries until the Meiji government decided, for political reasons, that this was to change. (According to the honji suijaku
theory, Japanese kami were just local manifestations of universal buddhas
, and Hachiman in particular was one of the earliest and most popular syncretic gods. Already in the 7th century, for example in Usa
, Kyūshū, Hachiman was worshiped together with Miroku Bosatsu (Maitreya
).)
The separation policy (shinbutsu bunri
) was the direct cause of serious damage to important cultural assets. Because mixing the two religions was now forbidden, shrines and temples had to give away some of their treasures, thus damaging the integrity of their cultural heritage and decreasing the historical and economic value of their properties. Tsurugaoka Hachiman's giant ] (the two wooden wardens usually found at the sides of a temple's entrance), being objects of Buddhist worship and therefore illegal where they were, had to be sold to Jufuku-ji
, where they still are.See article Jufuku-ji
The shrine also had to destroy Buddhism-related buildings, for example its (a complete seven-building Buddhist temple compound), its tahōtō
tower, and its .
In important ways, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū was impoverished in 1868 as a consequence of this Meiji era policy. The imposed, inflexible reform orthodoxy of this early Meiji period was unquestionably intended to affect Buddhism and Shinto. However, the structures and artwork of this ancient shrine-temple were not yet construed as important elements of Japan's cultural patrimony.After 1897 when the Law for the Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples was enacted, a range of other factors would come to be considered. What remains to be visited today is only a partial version of the original shrine-temple.
.
Both the shrine and the city were built with Feng Shui
in mind. The present location was carefully chosen as the most propitious after consulting a diviner
because it had a mountain to the north (the ), a river to the east (the Namerikawa), a great road to the west (the ) and was open to the south (on Sagami Bay
). Each direction was protected by a god: Genbu guarded the north, Seiryū the east, Byakko
the west and Suzaku the south. The willows near the Genpei Ponds (see below) and the catalpa
s next to the Museum of Modern Art represent respectively Seiryū and Byakko. In spite of all the changes the shrine has gone through over the years, in this respect Yoritomo's design is still basically intact.
As one enters, after the first torii
(Shinto gate) there are three small bridges, two flat ones on the sides and an arched one at the center. In the days of the shogunate there used to be only two, a normal one and another arched, made in wood and painted red. The shogun would leave his retinue there and proceed alone on foot to the shrine. The arched bridge was called Akabashi (Red Bridge), and was reserved to him: common people had to use the flat one. The bridges span over a canal that joins together two ponds popularly called , or "Genpei ponds". The term comes from the names of the two families, the Minamoto ("Gen") and the Taira ("Pei"), that fought each other in Yoritomo's day.
The stele just after and to the left of the first torii explains the origin of the nameOriginal Japanese text available here:
The red of those lotuses is supposed to stand for the spilled blood of the Taira.
Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū includes several sub-shrines, the most important of which are the Junior Shrine at the bottom, and the Senior Shrine 61 steps above. The present Senior Shrine building was constructed in 1828 by Tokugawa Ienari
, the 11th Tokugawa
shogun in the Hachiman-zukuri
style. Right under the stairway there's an open pavilion called where weddings, dances and music are performed. A couple of hundred meters to the right of the Junior Shrine lies , an National Treasure
. To the left of the Senior Shrine there's with its many torii.
Near Shirahata Jinja one can also find the , literally the "Yui Wakamiya Pray-at-a-Distance Place" (see photo). This facility, originally created for the shogun's benefit, allows one to worship at distant Yui Wakamiya (Moto Hachiman) without actually going all the way to Zaimokuza
.
Right next to the Yui Wakamiya Yōhaijo there are two stones: pouring water on them should reveal on each the contour of a turtle.
One of the islands in the Minamoto pond hosts a sub-shrine called dedicated to goddess Benzaiten
, a Buddhist deity. For this reason, the sub-shrine was dismantled in 1868 at the time of the Shinto and Buddhism separation order (see below) and rebuilt in 1956.
An unusual feature of the shrine is its 1.8 km (approach), which extends all the way to the ocean in Yuigahama
and doubles as Wakamiya Ōji Avenue, Kamakura's main street. Built by Minamoto no Yoritomo
as an imitation of Kyoto's , Wakamiya Ōji used to be much wider and flanked by both a 3 m deep canal and pine trees (see Edo period print below).
Walking from the beach toward the shrine one passes through three torii
, or Shinto gates, called respectively Ichi no Torii (first gate), Ni no Torii (second gate) and San no Torii (third gate). Between the first and the second lies which, as the name indicates, was the place where riders had to get off their horses in deference to Hachiman
and his shrine.
Some hundred meters further, between the second and third torii, begins the , a raised pathway flanked by cherry trees. The dankazura becomes gradually wider so that, seen from the shrine, it will look longer than it really is. The entire length of the dankazura is under the direct administration of the shrine.
The tree was nicknamed because according to an Edo period
urban legend
, a now-famous assassin hid behind it before striking his victim.For details, see the article Shinpen Kamakurashi
, (archery from horseback), and kyūdō
(Japanese archery) are practiced within the shrine. It also has extensive peony
gardens, three coffee shops, a kindergarten, offices and a dōjō
. Within its grounds stand two museums, the Kamakura Museum of National Treasures
, owned by the City of Kamakura, and the prefectural Museum of Modern Art.
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
shrine in the city of Kamakura
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...
, Kanagawa Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The shrine is at the geographical and cultural center of the city of Kamakura, which has largely grown around it.
At the left of its great stone stairway stood a 1000-year old ginkgo tree, which was uprooted by a storm in the early hours of March 10, 2010. The shrine is an Important Cultural Property
Important Cultural Properties of Japan
The term is often shortened into just are items officially already classified as Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and judged to be of particular importance to the Japanese people....
.
History
This shrine was originally built in 1063 as a branch of Iwashimizu ShrineIwashimizu Shrine
The is a Shinto shrine in the city of Yawata in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. -History:The shrine's Heian period connections with the Kyoto and the Imperial family date from its founding in 859 when construction on its earliest structures commenced...
in Zaimokuza
Zaimokuza
is an area within the Kamakura, Kanagawa Pref., in Japan that runs along the sea from Cape Iijima near Kotsubo harbor to the estuary of the Namerigawa. The relation between the beach's name and that of its neighboring areas is complex...
where tiny Moto Hachiman
Moto Hachiman
is a small but very old and historically important Shinto shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Pref., Japan.-History:Although officially called , this tiny shrine in Zaimokuza is universally known as Moto Hachiman , and in front of its torii stands a stele with the words...
now stands and dedicated to the Emperor Ōjin
Emperor Ojin
, also known as Homutawake or , was the 15th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 270 to 310....
, (deified with the name Hachiman
Hachiman
In Japanese mythology, is the Japanese syncretic god of archery and war, incorporating elements from both Shinto and Buddhism. Although often called the god of war, he is more correctly defined as the tutelary god of warriors. He is also divine protector of Japan and the Japanese people...
, tutelary kami
Kami
is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...
of warriors), his mother Empress Jingu
Jingu of Japan
, also known as , was a legendary Japanese empress. The empress or consort to Emperor Chūai, she also served as Regent from the time of her husband's death in 209 until her son Emperor Ōjin acceded to the throne in 269...
and his wife Hime-gami. Minamoto no Yoritomo
Minamoto no Yoritomo
was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan. He ruled from 1192 until 1199.-Early life and exile :Yoritomo was the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of the Minamoto clan, and his official wife, a daughter of Fujiwara no Suenori, who was a member of the...
, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate
Kamakura shogunate
The Kamakura shogunate was a military dictatorship in Japan headed by the shoguns from 1185 to 1333. It was based in Kamakura. The Kamakura period draws its name from the capital of the shogunate...
, moved it to its present location in 1191 and invited Hachiman
Hachiman
In Japanese mythology, is the Japanese syncretic god of archery and war, incorporating elements from both Shinto and Buddhism. Although often called the god of war, he is more correctly defined as the tutelary god of warriors. He is also divine protector of Japan and the Japanese people...
A kami is transferred to a new location through a process called kanjō
Kanjo
in Shinto terminology indicates a propagation process through which a kami, previously divided through a process called bunrei, is invited to another location and there reenshrined.- Evolution of the kanjō process :...
. to reside in the new location to protect his government.
Assassination of Minamoto no Sanetomo
Under heavy snow on the evening of February 12, 1219 (JōkyūJokyu
, also called Shōkyū, was a Japanese era name after Kempō and before Jōō. This period spanned the years from April 1219 through April 1222...
1, 26th day of the 1st month),Gregorian date obtained directly from the original Nengō using Nengocalc shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo
Minamoto no Sanetomo
Minamoto no Sanetomo was the third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate Sanetomo was the second son of the founder of the Kamakura shogunate Minamoto no Yoritomo, his mother was Hōjō Masako, and his older brother was the second Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoriie.His childhood name was...
was coming down from Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū 's Senior Shrine after assisting to a ceremony celebrating his nomination to Udaijin
Udaijin
Udaijin , most commonly translated as the "Minister of the Right", was a government position in Japan in the late Nara and Heian periods. The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 702. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the Udaijin in the context of a central...
. His nephew Kugyō
Kugyo (Minamoto no Yoshinari)
, also known as or , was the second son of the second Kamakura shogun of Japan, Minamoto no Yoriie. At the age of six, after his father was killed in Shuzenji in Izu, he became his uncle Sanetomo's adopted son and, thanks to his grandmother Hōjō Masako's intercession, a disciple of Songyō,...
, son of second shogun Minamoto no Yoriie
Minamoto no Yoriie
was the second shogun of Japan's Kamakura shogunate, and the first son of first shogun Yoritomo.- Life :Born from Tokimasa's daughter Hōjō Masako at Hiki Yoshikazu's residence in Kamakura, Yoriie had as wet nurses the wives of powerful men like Hiki himself and Kajiwara Kagetoki, and Hiki's...
, came out from next to the stone stairway of the shrine, then suddenly attacked and assassinated him. (No contemporary text mentions the tree). For his act he was himself beheaded a few hours later, thus bringing the Seiwa Genji
Seiwa Genji
The ' were the most successful and powerful of the many branch families of the Japanese Minamoto clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto Yoshiie, also known as "Hachimantaro", or God of War, and Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate, were descended...
line of the Minamoto clan and their rule in Kamakura to a sudden end.
Shrine and temple
Jingū-ji
Until the Meiji period , the Japanese were places of worship composed of a Buddhist temple and of a shrine dedicated to a local kami. These complexes were born when a temple was erected next to a shrine to help its kami. At the time, deities were thought to be also subjected to karma, and...
had been normal for centuries until the Meiji government decided, for political reasons, that this was to change. (According to the honji suijaku
Honji suijaku
The term in Japanese religious terminology refers to a theory widely accepted until the Meiji period according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native kami in order to more easily convert and save the Japanese...
theory, Japanese kami were just local manifestations of universal buddhas
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
, and Hachiman in particular was one of the earliest and most popular syncretic gods. Already in the 7th century, for example in Usa
Usa, Oita
' is a city located in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Usa is famous for being the location of the Usa Shrine, built in 725, the head shrine of all of Hachiman shrines in Japan.Usa is made up of three areas.*Usa, the area surrounding the Usa Shrine...
, Kyūshū, Hachiman was worshiped together with Miroku Bosatsu (Maitreya
Maitreya
Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...
).)
The separation policy (shinbutsu bunri
Shinbutsu Bunri
The term in Japanese indicates the forbidding by law of the amalgamation of kami and buddhas made during the Meiji Restoration. It also indicates the effort made by the Japanese government to create a clear division between native kami beliefs and Buddhism on one side, and Buddhist temples and...
) was the direct cause of serious damage to important cultural assets. Because mixing the two religions was now forbidden, shrines and temples had to give away some of their treasures, thus damaging the integrity of their cultural heritage and decreasing the historical and economic value of their properties. Tsurugaoka Hachiman's giant ] (the two wooden wardens usually found at the sides of a temple's entrance), being objects of Buddhist worship and therefore illegal where they were, had to be sold to Jufuku-ji
Jufuku-ji
, usually known as Jufuku-ji, is a temple of the Kenchō-ji branch of the Rinzai sect and the oldest Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Ranked third among Kamakura's prestigious Five Mountains, it is number 24 among the pilgrimage temples and number 18 of the temples...
, where they still are.See article Jufuku-ji
Jufuku-ji
, usually known as Jufuku-ji, is a temple of the Kenchō-ji branch of the Rinzai sect and the oldest Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Ranked third among Kamakura's prestigious Five Mountains, it is number 24 among the pilgrimage temples and number 18 of the temples...
The shrine also had to destroy Buddhism-related buildings, for example its (a complete seven-building Buddhist temple compound), its tahōtō
Tahōtō
A is a form of Japanese pagoda found primarily at Esoteric Shingon and Tendai school Buddhist temples. It is unique among pagodas because it has an even number of stories...
tower, and its .
In important ways, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū was impoverished in 1868 as a consequence of this Meiji era policy. The imposed, inflexible reform orthodoxy of this early Meiji period was unquestionably intended to affect Buddhism and Shinto. However, the structures and artwork of this ancient shrine-temple were not yet construed as important elements of Japan's cultural patrimony.After 1897 when the Law for the Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples was enacted, a range of other factors would come to be considered. What remains to be visited today is only a partial version of the original shrine-temple.
Meiji-Showa periods
From 1871 through 1946, Tsurugaoka was officially designated one of the , meaning that it stood in the mid-range of ranked, nationally significant shrinesModern system of ranked Shinto Shrines
The The The (sometimes called simply , was an organizational aspect of the establishment of Japanese State Shinto. This system classified Shinto shrines as either official government shrines or "other" shrines...
.
Layout of shrine complex
Feng shui
Feng shui ' is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi. The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu ....
in mind. The present location was carefully chosen as the most propitious after consulting a diviner
Diviner
Diviner is an infrared sensing instrument aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, part of the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program which is studying the moon...
because it had a mountain to the north (the ), a river to the east (the Namerikawa), a great road to the west (the ) and was open to the south (on Sagami Bay
Sagami Bay
Sagami Bay , also known as the Sagami Gulf or Sagami Sea, lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the...
). Each direction was protected by a god: Genbu guarded the north, Seiryū the east, Byakko
White Tiger (Chinese constellation)
The White Tiger is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It is sometimes called the White Tiger of the West , and is known as Baihu in Chinese, Byakko in Japanese, Baekho in Korean and Bạch Hổ in Vietnamese...
the west and Suzaku the south. The willows near the Genpei Ponds (see below) and the catalpa
Catalpa
Catalpa, commonly called catalpa or catawba, is a genus of flowering plants in the trumpet vine family, Bignoniaceae, native to warm temperate regions of North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia....
s next to the Museum of Modern Art represent respectively Seiryū and Byakko. In spite of all the changes the shrine has gone through over the years, in this respect Yoritomo's design is still basically intact.
As one enters, after the first torii
Torii
A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred...
(Shinto gate) there are three small bridges, two flat ones on the sides and an arched one at the center. In the days of the shogunate there used to be only two, a normal one and another arched, made in wood and painted red. The shogun would leave his retinue there and proceed alone on foot to the shrine. The arched bridge was called Akabashi (Red Bridge), and was reserved to him: common people had to use the flat one. The bridges span over a canal that joins together two ponds popularly called , or "Genpei ponds". The term comes from the names of the two families, the Minamoto ("Gen") and the Taira ("Pei"), that fought each other in Yoritomo's day.
The stele just after and to the left of the first torii explains the origin of the nameOriginal Japanese text available here:
The Genpei Ponds
The Azuma Kagami says that "In April 1182 Minamoto no Yoritomo told monk Senkō and Ōba Kageyoshi to have two ponds dug within the shrine." According to another version of the story, it was Yoritomo's wife MasakoHojo Masakowas the eldest child of Hōjō Tokimasa by his wife Hōjō no Maki, the first shikken, or regent, of the Kamakura shogunate. She was the sister of Hōjō Yoshitoki, and was married to Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura period...
who, to pray for the prosperity of the Minamoto family, had these ponds dug, and had white lotuses planted in the east one and red ones in the west one, colors which are those of the Taira and Minamoto clans. From this derives their name.
The red of those lotuses is supposed to stand for the spilled blood of the Taira.
Sub-shrines and infrastructures
Tokugawa Ienari
Tokugawa Ienari; 徳川 家斉 was the eleventh and longest serving shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.-First wife:...
, the 11th Tokugawa
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
shogun in the Hachiman-zukuri
Hachiman-zukuri
The is a traditional Japanese architectural style used at Hachiman shrines in which two parallel structures with gabled roofs are interconnected on the non-gabled side, forming one building which, when seen from the side, gives the impression of two. The front structure is called , the rear one ,...
style. Right under the stairway there's an open pavilion called where weddings, dances and music are performed. A couple of hundred meters to the right of the Junior Shrine lies , an National Treasure
National treasures of Japan
National Treasures are the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs...
. To the left of the Senior Shrine there's with its many torii.
Near Shirahata Jinja one can also find the , literally the "Yui Wakamiya Pray-at-a-Distance Place" (see photo). This facility, originally created for the shogun's benefit, allows one to worship at distant Yui Wakamiya (Moto Hachiman) without actually going all the way to Zaimokuza
Zaimokuza
is an area within the Kamakura, Kanagawa Pref., in Japan that runs along the sea from Cape Iijima near Kotsubo harbor to the estuary of the Namerigawa. The relation between the beach's name and that of its neighboring areas is complex...
.
Right next to the Yui Wakamiya Yōhaijo there are two stones: pouring water on them should reveal on each the contour of a turtle.
One of the islands in the Minamoto pond hosts a sub-shrine called dedicated to goddess Benzaiten
Benzaiten
Benzaiten is the Japanese name for the Hindu goddess Saraswati. Worship of Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the 6th through 8th centuries, mainly via the Chinese translations of the Sutra of Golden Light, which has a section devoted to her...
, a Buddhist deity. For this reason, the sub-shrine was dismantled in 1868 at the time of the Shinto and Buddhism separation order (see below) and rebuilt in 1956.
Wakamiya Ōji
Yuigahama
is a beach near Kamakura, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The relation between the beach and its neighboring areas is complex. Although Yuigahama is in fact the entire 3.2 km beach that goes from Inamuragasaki, which separates it from Shichirigahama, to Zaimokuza's Iijima cape, which...
and doubles as Wakamiya Ōji Avenue, Kamakura's main street. Built by Minamoto no Yoritomo
Minamoto no Yoritomo
was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan. He ruled from 1192 until 1199.-Early life and exile :Yoritomo was the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of the Minamoto clan, and his official wife, a daughter of Fujiwara no Suenori, who was a member of the...
as an imitation of Kyoto's , Wakamiya Ōji used to be much wider and flanked by both a 3 m deep canal and pine trees (see Edo period print below).
Walking from the beach toward the shrine one passes through three torii
Torii
A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred...
, or Shinto gates, called respectively Ichi no Torii (first gate), Ni no Torii (second gate) and San no Torii (third gate). Between the first and the second lies which, as the name indicates, was the place where riders had to get off their horses in deference to Hachiman
Hachiman
In Japanese mythology, is the Japanese syncretic god of archery and war, incorporating elements from both Shinto and Buddhism. Although often called the god of war, he is more correctly defined as the tutelary god of warriors. He is also divine protector of Japan and the Japanese people...
and his shrine.
Some hundred meters further, between the second and third torii, begins the , a raised pathway flanked by cherry trees. The dankazura becomes gradually wider so that, seen from the shrine, it will look longer than it really is. The entire length of the dankazura is under the direct administration of the shrine.
The giant ginkgo
The ginkgo that had stood next to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's stairway almost from its foundation and which appears in almost every old print of the shrine was completely uprooted and greatly damaged at 4:40 in the morning on March 10, 2010. According to an expert who analyzed the tree, the fall is likely due to rot. Both the tree's stump and a section of its trunk replanted nearby have produced leaves (see photo).The tree was nicknamed because according to an Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
, a now-famous assassin hid behind it before striking his victim.For details, see the article Shinpen Kamakurashi
Shinpen Kamakurashi
The is an Edo period compendium of topographic, geographic and demographic data concerning the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and its vicinities. Consisting of eight volumes and commissioned in 1685 by Tokugawa Mitsukuni to three vassals, it contains for example information about...
Activities
Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū is the center of much cultural activity and both YabusameYabusame
is a type of mounted archery in traditional Japanese archery. An archer on a running horse shoots three special "turnip-headed" arrows successively at three wooden targets....
, (archery from horseback), and kyūdō
Kyudo
, literally meaning "way of the bow", is the Japanese art of archery. It is a modern Japanese martial art and practitioners are known as .It is estimated that there are approximately half a million practitioners of kyudo today....
(Japanese archery) are practiced within the shrine. It also has extensive peony
Peony
Peony or paeony is a name for plants in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the flowering plant family Paeoniaceae. They are native to Asia, southern Europe and western North America...
gardens, three coffee shops, a kindergarten, offices and a dōjō
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...
. Within its grounds stand two museums, the Kamakura Museum of National Treasures
Kamakura Museum of National Treasures
The or Kamakura Museum or Kamakura National Treasure House is a museum located on the grounds of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Yukinoshita, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The museum houses around 4800 objects from the Kamakura region including sculptures, paintings and industrial art objects...
, owned by the City of Kamakura, and the prefectural Museum of Modern Art.
See also
- Azuma KagamiAzuma KagamiThe , or "mirror of the east", is a Japanese medieval text that chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō and his return to Kyoto in 1266...
- Kamakura Museum of National TreasuresKamakura Museum of National TreasuresThe or Kamakura Museum or Kamakura National Treasure House is a museum located on the grounds of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Yukinoshita, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The museum houses around 4800 objects from the Kamakura region including sculptures, paintings and industrial art objects...
- List of National Treasures of Japan (crafts-others)
- List of National Treasures of Japan (crafts-swords)
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- National Archives of JapanNational Archives of JapanThe preserve Japanese government documents and historical records and make them available to the public. Although Japan's reverence for its unique history and art is well documented and illustrated by collections of art and documents, there is almost no archivist tradition...
, Digital Gallery:- Mori Koan map: Soshu Kamakuranozu, drawn in 5th year of HorekiHorekiwas a after Kan'en and before Meiwa. The period spanned the years from October 1751 through June 1764. The reigning emperor and emperess were and .-Change of era:...
(1755).
- Mori Koan map: Soshu Kamakuranozu, drawn in 5th year of Horeki
- New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
Digital Gallery:- NYPL ID 119488, unknown photographer, albumen print, 189?-190?: Perspective beyond torii
- NYPL ID 118907, Felice BeatoFelice BeatoFelice Beato , also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, portraits, and views and panoramas of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and...
, albumen print, 187?: Shrine steps and forecourt - NYPL ID 110031, Kusakabe KimbeiKusakabe KimbeiKusakabe Kimbei was a Japanese photographer. He usually went by his given name, Kimbei, because his clientele, mostly non-Japanese-speaking foreign residents and visitors, found it easier to pronounce than his family name....
, albumen print, 188?-189? Great stairway - NYPL ID 118911, Felice BeatoFelice BeatoFelice Beato , also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, portraits, and views and panoramas of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and...
, albumen print, 187?: Senior Shrine structural detail - NYPL ID 118912, Felice BeatoFelice BeatoFelice Beato , also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, portraits, and views and panoramas of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and...
, albumen print, 187?: Tahōtō, single-storied pagoda