is a

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

in the Shin'ichi-chō neighborhood of the city of

Fukuyama Fukuyama may refer to: People * Francis Fukuyama, Japanese-American philosopher and political economist * Fukuyama (surname), other people with the name Places *Fukuyama, Hiroshima, city in Japan *Fukuyama, Kagoshima was a town located in Aira D ...

in Hiroshima Prefecture,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is the ''

ichinomiya is a Japanese language, Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a Provinces of Japan, province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth.''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retr ...

'' of former

Bingo Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of western Honshū, comprising what is today the eastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. It was sometimes grouped together with Bizen and Bitchu Provinces as . The 備 ''bi'' in the names of these ...

. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on November 23.

Enshrined ''kami''

The ''

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

'' enshrined at Kibitsu Jinja are: * , son of

Emperor Kōrei , also known as was the seventh 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. Kōrei is known as a ...

, conqueror of the

Kingdom of Kibi was a kingdom of fourth century Western Japan. The Kingdom of Kibi covered most of what is today Okayama Prefecture. Today, the Kibi Road crosses the plain between Okayama and Soja, what was once the heartland of ''Kibi no kuni''. Etymology In Ja ...

* ,

* , empress of Emperor Kōrei. * , younger brother of Kibitsuhiko

History

The origins of Kibitsu Jinja are uncertain. The shrine claims that when

Kibi Province was an ancient province or region of Japan, in the same area as Okayama Prefecture and eastern Hiroshima Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kibi''" in . It was sometimes called . It was divided into Bizen (備前), Bitchū (� ...

was divided into three provinces in 806, it was established as a ''

bunrei is a Shinto technical term that indicates both the process of dividing a Shinto ''kami'' to be re-enshrined somewhere else (such as a house's ''kamidana are miniature household altars provided to enshrine a Shinto . They are most commonly foun ...

'' from the original Kibitsu Shrine in

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

. However, there is no documentary evidence to support this, and the shrine does not appear in the ''

Engishiki The is a Japanese book of laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ''Engishi ...

'', which was complied between 905 and 967 AD. The first time the shrine is mentioned in a historical source is in 1148 in which the name is mentioned in the records of

Yasaka Shrine , once called , is a Shinto shrine in the Gion District of Kyoto, Japan. Situated at the east end of Shijō-dōri (Fourth Avenue), the shrine includes several buildings, including gates, a main hall and a stage. The Yasaka shrine is dedicated to S ...

, and

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s on the grounds have found not artifacts earlier than the 12th century. However, from the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, it was regarded as the ''

'' of the province, and had a large number of estates, with which it often clashed with secular authorities. During the Nanboku-cho period, the shrine is the location where Imperial loyalist Sakurayama Koretoshi (桜山茲俊) raised an army in 1331 in support of the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors ( Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitivel ...

. However, as detailed in the ''

Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a medieval Japanese historical epic (see '' gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō, the period of war between the ...

'', after receiving a false report that

Kusunoki Masashige , or , was a Japanese military commander and samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal loyal samurai. Kusunoki fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genkō War to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and restore power in Japan to the ...

had been defeated at Akasaka Castle, he committed suicide with his wife and children and burned the shrine down.Fukushima City home page
/ref> This event led to the area around the shrine to be designated as a National Historic Site in 1934.

Kō no Moroyasu Iwanami Nihonshi Jiten was one of the leading generals of Shōgun Ashikaga Takauji during the Nanboku-chō period, along with his brother Moronao and his cousin Morofuyu. Life In 1335 he was sent west from Kamakura, the capital, at the head ...

issued a decree in 1346 ordering the Bingo ''

shugo , commonly translated as ' ilitarygovernor', 'protector', or 'constable', was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The position gave way to th ...

'' to stop harassing the shrine. During the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, the shrine was supported by

Mōri Terumoto Mōri Terumoto (毛利輝元, January 22, 1553 – June 2, 1625) was a Japanese ''daimyō''. The son of Mōri Takamoto, and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mōri Motonari, he fought against Oda Nobunaga but was eventually overc ...

, and in the

Edo Period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

it was supported by the Fukushima clan and the

Mizuno clan The Mizuno clan, a prominent Japanese clan, held the esteemed positions of samurai and nobility. Throughout the tumultuous Sengoku period, they were the rulers of Kariya Castle in Mikawa Province, which also served as the ancestral home of Tok ...

who were ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of

Fukuyama Domain file:Abe Masahiro Portrait.png, 270px, Abe Masahiro 7th daimyo of Fukuyama was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now southeastern Hiroshima Prefecture. It controlled much of Bingo Province ...

. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, it was listed as a in 1871. The shrine is located a twenty-minute walk from Shin-ichi Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

Fukuen Line The is a railway line in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It connects Fukuyama Station in Fukuyama to Miyoshi Station in Miyoshi. Stations Former connecting lines * Sankō Line The ...

Cultural properties

National Important Cultural Properties

Honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

, constructed in 1648 as a donation by

Mizuno Katsushige (1564–1651), also known as , was a Rōnin, and a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and early Edo periods.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Jap ...

. It is a seven by four bay hall in the relatively large and has a flat "Yomazukuri" style which is common in the Bingo and Aki regions *

Komainu , often called lion-dogs in English, are statue pairs of lion-like creatures, which traditionally guard the entrance or gate of the shrine, or placed in front of or within the ''honden'' (inner sanctum) of Japanese Shinto shrines. Symbolic mea ...

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

, group of three with height of 78, 80 and 82 centimeters. As Komainu come in sets of two, one is missing. The statues are now kept at the

Tokyo National Museum The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō wards of Tokyo, ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the , is considered the oldest national museum and the largest art museum in Japan. The museum collects, prese ...

. *

Tachi A is a type of sabre-like traditionally made Japanese sword (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. ''Tachi'' and '' uchigatana'' ("''katana''") generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when she ...

. Set of four. In 1972, the sword fittings were stolen and their whereabouts are unknown. The blades are currently deposited at the Okayama Prefectural Museum.

Gallery

File:吉備津神社 (福山市) 拝殿.JPG, Haiden（Fukuyama city ICP） File:Kibitsu shurine02.JPG, Kagura stage（Hiroshima Prefecture ICP） File:吉備津神社 (福山市) 上随神門.JPG, Upper Gate File:吉備津神社 (福山市) 下随神門.JPG, Lower Gate（Fukuyama city ICP） File:Kibitsu shurine03.JPG, Great Toriii（Fukuyama city ICP） File:吉備津神社 (福山市) 公孫樹.JPG, Gingko Tree File:吉備津神社 (福山市) 御池.JPG, Pond

References

External links

Official home page
{{Kibi clan Shinto shrines in Hiroshima Prefecture Bingo Province Fukuyama, Hiroshima Ichinomiya Historic Sites of Japan Beppyo shrines Kokuhei Shōsha 806 establishments Kibi clan