is a

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, meani ...

in Aoba-ku,

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

Miyagi Miyagi may refer to: Places * Miyagi Prefecture, one of the 47 major divisions of Japan * Miyagi, Gunma, a village in Japan, merged into Maebashi in 2004 *Miyagi District, Miyagi, a district in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan Other uses * Miyagi (surna ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is the tutelary shrine of the Date clan.

History

Kameoka Hachimangū was founded in 1190 as a branch of Tsurugaoka Hachimangū by

Date Tomomune Date Tomomune (伊達朝宗, 1129 - October 23, 1199) was a samurai during the closing years of the Heian period through to the beginning of the Kamakura period. He is known as the founder of the Date Clan. Biography In 1189, Nakamura Hitachi-n ...

, the Date clan founder, at Takako, in the former town of Hobara, now a part of modern Date City in

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

."Kameoka Hachimangū," on Miyagi Shrine Office's website
accessed 3 Nov. 2017 The 1719 text Ōū Kanseki Monrōshi , however, claims that the shrine was founded by Tomomune's son, Date Munemura. A legend in the Date clan holds that a mythical black turtle, one of the Four Symbols, appeared as the shrine was under construction, thus prompting its name of Kameoka ("Turtle Hill") Hachimangū. In 1427, the shrine was relocated to Yanagawa. In 1532, Date Tanemune, the 14th hereditary lord of the Date Clan moved and brought the shrine with him. In 1570, it was moved back to Yanagawa. Moved to Date territory in Sendai domain by the priestly Yamada family, it was relocated to the

castle town by 1602. According to the 1695 chorographic study ''Sendai Ika no Ko'', after its move, it was called Ima-Hachiman, and upon moving to its present location in Sendai's Aoba Ward in 1681, it was renamed to "Kameoka Hachimangū." Its move to its present location was by order of Date Tsunamura. There is a smaller, subsidiary shrine, Kōratamatare-jinja, which stands beside the sanctuary along with a smaller Toyouke-Inari-jinja. Haiku poets

Matsuo Bashō born then was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest ma ...

and Kawai Sora visited the shrine in 1689 during the trip described in the book ''

Oku no Hosomichi ''Oku no Hosomichi'' (, originally ), translated as ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and ''The Narrow Road to the Interior'', is a major work of ''haibun'' by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese l ...

''. During the Edo period and the existence of Sendai domain, the shrine's neighborhood and its residents had privileged status. Their affairs came under the jurisdiction of the Date clan's Temple and Shrine Magistrates rather than the clan's Sendai City Magistrates who usually oversaw municipal affairs. The shrine neighborhood's residents also had the right to brew vinegar; other shrine neighborhoods, such as that around Sendai Tōshōgū, were allowed to brew sake. The shrine was destroyed in July 1945 during the

Bombing of Sendai during World War II The on July 10, 1945, was part of the strategic bombing campaign waged by the United States against the civilian population and military targets during the Japan home islands campaign in the closing stages of World War II. Background The city of ...

, with only the stone torii and stone steps surviving. The shrine was rebuilt in October 1965. Its present chief priest is Kōriyama Munekatsu. One of the shrine's treasures, a sword made by Osafune Yoshimitsu, is listed as an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government.

In popular culture

Yanagawa Hachimangū in Date City, Fukushima appears as a setting in ''Masamune Datenikuru'', an anime produced by the city in concert with GAINA. The deity Hachiman holds as collateral the soul of young

Date Masamune was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all ...

, in a bid to prompt him toward courage and responsibility as the new Date lord. While a shrine by that name on that site exists in the 21st century, in Masamune's time, the present Kameoka Hachimangū once stood on the site of Yanagawa Hachimangū during Masamune's time and was then briefly called Yanagawa Hachimangū.

References

External links

Official Sendai City "100 Famous Green Spaces" listing for Kameoka Hachimangū.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kameoka Hachimangu Sendai Buildings and structures in Sendai 1190s establishments in Japan Shinto shrines in Miyagi Prefecture Date clan