is the most important

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, mean ...

in the city of

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kama ...

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. Kana ...

, Japan. The shrine is a cultural center of the city of Kamakura and serves as the venue of many of its most important festivals with two museums. For most of its history, it served both as a Hachiman shrine, and in latter years a

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese ...

Buddhist temple typical of

Japanese Buddhist architecture Examples of Buddhist architecture in Japan Japanese Buddhist architecture is the architecture of Buddhist temples in Japan, consisting of locally developed variants of architectural styles born in China.p=716/ref> After Buddhism arrived fro ...

. The famed Buddhist priest Nichiren Daishonin once reputedly visited the shrine to reprimand the

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 ...

Hachiman In Japanese religion, ''Yahata'' (八幡神, ancient Shinto pronunciation) formerly in Shinto and later commonly known as Hachiman (八幡神, Japanese Buddhist pronunciation) is the syncretic divinity of archery and war, incorporating elements f ...

just before his execution at Shichirigahama beach. A former one thousand-year-old ginkgo tree near its entrance was uprooted by a storm on 10 March 2010. The shrine continues to serve as one of the

Important Cultural Properties of Japan An The term is often shortened into just is an item officially classified as Tangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs ( Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and judged to be o ...

History

This shrine was originally built in 1063 as a branch of Iwashimizu Shrine in Zaimokuza where tiny

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'' ("original Hachiman", a nickname wh ...

now stands and dedicated to the

Emperor Ōjin , also known as (alternatively spelled 譽田別命, 誉田別命, 品陀和気命, 譽田分命, 誉田別尊, 品陀別命) or , was the 15th (possibly legendary) Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. No firm d ...

, (deified with the name

, tutelary ''

'' of warriors), his mother Empress Jingu and his wife Hime-gami.

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 h ...

, the founder of the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yo ...

, moved it to its present location in 1191 and invited

A ''kami'' is transferred to a new location through a process called kanjō. to reside in the new location to protect his government. The shrine caught a major fire in 14 November 1280, where several artifacts were also stolen from the inner sanctum of the shrine.

Assassination of Minamoto no Sanetomo

One of the historical events the shrine is tied to is the assassination of Sanetomo, last of Minamoto no Yoritomo's sons. Under heavy snow on the evening of February 12, 1219 (

Jōkyū , also called Shōkyū, was a Japanese era name (年号, ''nengō'', lit. year name) after '' Kempō'' and before '' Jōō.'' This period spanned the years from April 1219 through April 1222.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Jōkyū''" i ''J ...

1, 26th day of the 1st month),Gregorian date obtained directly from the original Nengō usin
Nengocalc
shōgun Minamoto no Sanetomo was coming down from Tsurugaoka Hachimangū's Senior Shrine after assisting to a ceremony celebrating his nomination to

Udaijin 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 adminis ...

. His nephew

Kugyō is the collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre- Meiji eras. The term generally referred to the and court officials and denoted a court rank between First Rank and Third Rank und ...

, son of second shōgun

Minamoto no Yoriie was the second ''shōgun'' (1202–1203) of Japan's Kamakura shogunate, and the first son of first shōgun Yoritomo. His Dharma name was Hokke-in-dono Kingo Da'i Zengo (法華院殿金吾大禅閤). Life Minamoto no Yoriie was born to Hōj� ...

, came out from next to the stone stairway of the shrine, then suddenly attacked and assassinated him in the hope to become ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'' himself.Azuma Kagami; Mutsu (1995/06: 102–104) The killer is often described as hiding behind the giant ginkgo, but no contemporary text mentions the tree, and this detail is likely an Edo-period invention first appeared in

Tokugawa Mitsukuni , also known as , was a Japanese daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa (who in turn was the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu) and succeeded him, becoming the s ...

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 volumesTakahashi (2005:20) and commissioned in 1685 by Tokugawa Mit ...

. For his act Kugyō was himself beheaded a few hours later, thus bringing the

Seiwa Genji The is a line of the Japanese Minamoto clan that is descended from Emperor Seiwa, which is the most successful and powerful line of the clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto no Yoshiie, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the f ...

line of the Minamoto clan and their rule in Kamakura to a sudden end.

Shrine and temple

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū 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 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'' to more easily convert and save the Japanese.Breen and ...

'' 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).Bernhard Scheid) The separation policy (''

shinbutsu bunri The Japanese term indicates the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration which separated Shinto ''kami'' from buddhas, and also Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, which were originally amalgamated. It is a ...

'') 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.Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008: 28) 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 , 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 pilgrima ...

, where they still are.See article

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 Hachimangū 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 shrines.

Layout of shrine complex

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 Diviner, also referred to as the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE), is an infrared radiometer aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, part of the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program which is studying the Moon. It has been used to create ...

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 lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, 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 ...

).Ōnuki (2008:80) Each direction was protected by a god:

Genbu Genbu may refer to: * Black Tortoise, a Chinese constellation symbol * Genbu (''YuYu Hakusho''), a fictional character in the series ''YuYu Hakusho'' * Genbu (''Fushigi Yūgi''), a fictional character in the series ''Fushigi Yūgi'' * Genbu, a fi ...

guarded the north, Seiryū the east, Byakko the west and Suzaku the south. The

willows Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

near the Genpei Ponds (see below) and the

catalpa ''Catalpa'', commonly called catalpa or catawba, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to warm temperate and subtropical regions of North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia. Description Most ''Catalpa'' are deci ...

s next to th
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. Tsurugaoka Hachimangu From Third Torii until First Torii

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu From Third Torii until First Torii

There is a 1.8 km straight street in the front of shrine, called " Wakamiya Ōji (若宮大路)". It is the approach (

sandō A in Japanese architecture is the road approaching either a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple.Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version. Its point of origin is usually straddled in the first case by a Shinto ''torii'', in ...

(参道)) of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, there are three big

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 mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simples ...

(Shinto gate). The Torii gate farthest from the shrine is called Ichi-no-Torii (the first torii), the one in the middle is Ni-no-Torii (the second torii) and the one in front of the shrine is San-no-Torii (the third torii). As one enters, after San-no-Torii (the third torii) 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 shōgun would leave his retinue there and proceed alone on foot to the shrine.Mutsu (1995/06: 102-104) 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 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 name:Original Japanese text availabl
here
/ref>

The Genpei Ponds
File:Genpei-ike 01.JPG, Genpei ponds (Minamoto Pond) File:Genpei-ike 02.JPG, Genpei ponds (Taira Pond) 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 Masako 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.Kamiya (2008: 17 - 23)

Sub-shrines and infrastructures

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū 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 Tokugawa Ienari ( ja, 徳川家斉, November 18, 1773 – March 22, 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991) ''Early Modern ...

, the 11th Tokugawa ''shōgun'' 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 , a

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundam ...

. To the left of the Senior Shrine lies 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 ''shōguns benefit, allows one to worship at distant Yui Wakamiya (

) without actually going all the way to Zaimokuza.Komachi, Nishi Mikado
by the Kamakura Citizen's Network, retrieved on July 23, 2008 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 ('' shinjitai'': 弁才天 or 弁財天; '' kyūjitai'': 辯才天, 辨才天, or 辨財天, lit. "goddess of eloquence"), also simply known as Benten (''shinjitai'': 弁天; ''kyūjitai'': 辯天 / 辨天), is a Japanese Buddhist ...

, 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

An unusual feature of the shrine is its 1.8 km (approach), which extends all the way to the ocean in

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 legally the entire 3.2 km beach that goes from Inamuragasaki, which separates it from ...

and doubles as Wakamiya Ōji Avenue, Kamakura's main street. Built by

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).Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008: 56-57) Walking from the beach toward the shrine one passes through three ''

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 mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simples ...

'', 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

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.

Giant ginkgo

The

ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants. The scientific name is also used as the English name. The order to which it belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and is now the only living genus withi ...

tree that stood next to Tsurugaoka Hachimangū'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 The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

, a now-famous assassin hid behind it before striking his victim. For details, see the article

Activities

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū is the center of much cultural activity and both ''

yabusame 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. This style of archery has its origins at the beginning of the Kama ...

'', (archery from horseback), and ''

kyūdō ''Kyūdō'' ( ja, 弓道) is the Japanese martial art of archery. Kyūdō is based on '' kyūjutsu'' ("art of archery"), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan. In 1919, the name of kyūjutsu was officially changed to kyūdō, ...

'' (Japanese archery) are practiced within the shrine. It also has extensive

peony The peony or paeony is a flowering plant in the genus ''Paeonia'' , the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae . Peonies are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguished ...

gardens, three coffee shops, a kindergarten, offices and a ''

dōjō A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

''. Within its grounds stand two museums, the Kamakura Museum of National Treasures, owned by the City of Kamakura, and the prefectura
Museum of Modern Art

Gallery of Shrines at Tsurugaoka Hachimangū

File:Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū Shrine.jpg, Tsurugaoka Hachimangū - a

with

Buddhist architecture Buddhist religious architecture developed in the Indian subcontinent. Three types of structures are associated with the religious architecture of early Buddhism: monasteries ( viharas), places to venerate relics ( stupas), and shrines or prayer ...

File:Inner court of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū.JPG, The inner court of Tsurugaoka Hachimangū File:Inari shrine at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū 01.JPG, Inari shrine File:Inari shrine at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū 02.JPG, The red

(gates) along the road to Inari shrine File:Shirahata Shrine.JPG, Shirahata Shrine File:Hataage Benzaiten Shrine.JPG, Hataage

Shrine File:Ithe two stones at Yui Wakamiya Yōhaijo.JPG, The two stones at Yui Wakamiya Yōhaijo File:Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū Dankazura 001.jpg, Dankazura File:Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū Arched bridge 002.jpg, Arched bridge File:Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū Arched bridge 001.jpg, Arched bridge

Notes

References

Bibliography

''Azuma Kagami''
accessed on September 4, 2008;

* Brinkley, Frank and Dairoku Kikuchi. (1915)
''A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era.''
New York: Encyclopædia Britannica. * * * Mass, Jeffrey P. (1995)
''Court and Bakufu in Japan: Essays in Kamakura History.''
Stanford:

Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officiall ...

. * * * Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1962)
''Sovereign and Subject.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. *

External links

Official website (in Japanese)
*

National Archives of Japan The 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 a ...

, Digital Gallery: ** Mori Koan map
Soshu Kamakuranozu
drawn in 5th year of '' Horeki'' (1755). *

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

Digital Gallery: ** NYPL ID 119488, unknown photographer, albumen print, 189?-190?
Perspective beyond torii
** NYPL ID 118907, Felice Beato, albumen print, 187?
Shrine steps and forecourt
** NYPL ID 110031, Kusakabe Kimbei, albumen print, 188?-189
Great stairway
** NYPL ID 118911, Felice Beato, albumen print, 187?
Senior Shrine structural detail
** NYPL ID 118912, Felice Beato, albumen print, 187?
''Tahōtō,'' single-storied pagoda
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsurugaoka Hachimangu 1060s establishments in Japan 1063 establishments in Asia Religious buildings and structures completed in 1191 Religious buildings and structures completed in 1828 Buildings and structures in Kamakura, Kanagawa Shinto shrines in Kanagawa Prefecture Hachiman shrines Religious buildings and structures completed in 1063 Beppyo shrines