The is a Japanese

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The ''honden''Also called (本殿, meanin ...

on the shores of

Lake Ashi , also referred to as Hakone Lake or Ashinoko Lake, is a scenic lake in the Hakone area of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū, Japan. It is a crater lake that lies along the southwest wall of the caldera of Mount Hakone, a complex volcano that la ...

in the town of

Hakone is a List of towns in Japan, town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 11,293 and a population density of 122 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many o ...

in the Ashigarashimo District of

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...

.Kotodamaya.com
"Hakone Jinja"
retrieved 2013-1-27. It is also known as the . Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Hakone Gongen-jinja"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 279.

Enshrined ''kami''

The primary ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'' of Hakone Shrine are * * * They are known collectively as the .

History

According to shrine tradition, ''Hakone-jinja'' was founded in 757 during the reign of

Emperor Kōshō , also known as was the fifth legendary emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Very little is known about this Emperor due to a lack of material available for further verification and study. Kōshō is known as a "l ...

. The original shrine was at the summit of the Komagatake peak of

Mount Hakone , with its highest peak Mount Kami (1,438 meters), is a complex volcano in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan that is truncated by two overlapping calderas, the largest of which is 10 × 11 km wide. The calderas were formed as a result of ...

. The shrine was relocated to the shores of

; its current form dates to 1667. Credit for establishment is also given to Priest Mangan, for pacifying the nine-headed dragon that lived at the bottom of

. According to the ''

Azuma Kagami is a Japanese historical chronicle. The medieval text chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō (the 6th shōgun) and his return to Kyoto in 12 ...

'',

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

sought guidance and shelter from the kami at Hakone after his defeat in

Battle of Ishibashiyama The was the first in which Minamoto no Yoritomo, who became ''shōgun'' less than a decade later, was commander of the Minamoto forces. The battle was fought on September 14, 1180, in the southwest of present-day Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, ...

during the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himse ...

. Upon becoming shōgun, Yoritomo became a patron of the shrine. In the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle b ...

, the shrine was popular with samurai. This support continued through the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

. The shrine was burned down by the forces of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

during the Battle of Odawara. It was reconstructed by

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

and given a grant of 200 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' of revenue. The

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

continued to support the shrine. In the system of ranked Shinto shrines, Hakone was listed in 1875 among the 3rd class of nationally significant shrines or . Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 125.

Cultural artifacts

Hakone Shrine has a small museum, which displays a number of the shrine's treasures. These include five items which are ranked as national Important Cultural Property.

Events

The main festival of the shrine is held annually on August 1.

References

File:Crowd - Hakone-jinja - Hakone, Japan - DSC05780.jpg File:Hakone-jinja - Hakone, Japan - DSC05819.jpg File:Processional shrines - Hakone-jinja - Hakone, Japan - DSC05744.jpg File:Stairs - Hakone-jinja - Hakone, Japan - DSC05716.jpg File:Ducks & floating torii.jpg File:Avenue - Hakone-jinja - Hakone, Japan - DSC05864.jpg

External links