Ikiko Shrine: A Shinto Shrine in Kanuma, Japan
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.9
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Unclassified
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Unclassified
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Sanctuary
On this page4 sections
History
Foundation and name
Ikiko Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Momiyama-machi, Kanuma, Tochigi, Japan, traditionally said to have been founded in 726. It was first known as Momiyama Myojin, with Myojin an honorific title for a revered kami, or deity. The shrine enshrines Ninigi no Kami, a Shinto deity traditionally identified as a grandson of Amaterasu, the sun goddess. It is associated with prayers for safe childbirth, recovery from smallpox, and the care of children.
The shrine’s foundation legend dates to 1549. After their child died of smallpox, a grieving couple prayed to Momiyama Myojin for the child’s return to life and performed ritual water purification at a spring-fed pond in the shrine precinct. The story says their prayer was answered three days later, after which the shrine became known as Ikiko Shrine.
Buddhist oversight and annual observances
The Buddhist temple Jōkei-in administered the shrine through a cleric responsible for overseeing shrine affairs, reflecting the historical association between Buddhist and Shinto institutions. This arrangement continued until 1875, when the temple was disestablished.
The shrine’s annual observances include the January Hinode Festival, with a food-offering rite and a bow-taking ceremony, and a September festival featuring crying sumo. In this ritual, sumo wrestlers try to make infants cry. Crying sumo was designated an intangible folk cultural property in 1990 and selected for documentation measures in 1996. The Hinode Festival received the same designation in 2000.
Archaeological sites from the Jomon period, a prehistoric era named for its cord-marked pottery, occur around the shrine. Their relationship to Ikiko Shrine is uncertain.
Remains
Ikiko Shrine stands on the western edge of the hills in Momiyama-machi. A spring-fed pond lies within the shrine precinct.
