Hirasaki Shrine: A Historic Shinto Shrine of Satsuma
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Kamakura shogunate, Tokugawa
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Sanctuary
On this page14 sections
History
Hirasaki Shrine, also known as Hirakiki Shrine, is a Shinto shrine in Ibusuki, Kagoshima, Japan, associated with Mount Kaimon and the former Satsuma Province. Its origins are traditionally placed in the divine age, while another foundation tradition dates it to 708. The shrine is regarded, together with Nitta Shrine, as a claimant to the ichinomiya status, the highest-ranking shrine traditionally recognized within a historical province.
Origins and Early Recognition
Hirasaki Shrine is thought to have begun as a mountain cult centered on Mount Kaimon. Tradition places the original sanctuary on the mountain’s southern foothills. Eruptions during the ninth century are said to have led to its relocation to the northern foothills, although one tradition states that the shrine first took refuge at Ibusuki Shrine before reaching its present site.
The earliest reliable documentary reference dates to April 14, 860, when the deity of Mount Kaimon was promoted from Junior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade, to Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade. Further promotions followed, to Junior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade, on May 24, 866, and to Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade, on November 23, 882. The shrine was listed in the 927 Engishiki, a tenth-century register of religious institutions and rites, as a small shrine in Ei District of Satsuma Province. It was the only registered shrine in that district and one of only two in the province.
Ninth-century records used the name Kaimon, while the Engishiki used Hirakiki. Other historical names included Kaimon Shrine, Kaimon-gu, Watatsumi Shrine, and Watatsumi-gu. Hirakiki has been connected with the idea of a deity of land clearance or settlement. Kaimon has also been interpreted as referring to the maritime gateway formed by Mount Kaimon and Sata Cape across Kagoshima Bay.
Medieval Estates and the Ichinomiya Dispute
In 1197, the shrine held approximately 42 cho of estate land, a historical unit of land measurement. These holdings lay in Ei District, Chiran, and Ibusuki District and were attached to Dazaifu, the imperial administrative headquarters for Kyushu. In 1200, Shimazu Tadahisa, founder of the medieval Shimazu house in southern Kyushu, rebuilt the shrine buildings.
A document from 1230 provides the earliest known description of Hirasaki Shrine as the first shrine of Satsuma Province. A land dispute followed in 1235 between Ibusuki Tadahide and Ei Tadatsugu over the shrine’s estate. From the late thirteenth century, Hirasaki Shrine and Nitta Shrine disputed the title of ichinomiya. The title could be contested when more than one shrine claimed precedence.
In 1284, the Kamakura shogunate ordered the Shimazu provincial military governor to notify both the Satsuma ichinomiya and the provincial Kokubunji, a Buddhist temple established under the ancient state system, in connection with prayers for the defeat of foreign enemies. Nitta Shrine began asserting its own claim in 1287. Hirasaki Shrine complained in 1292 that Nitta Shrine and provincial authorities had seized swords and sacred horses intended as offerings to Hirasaki. In 1293, Shimazu Tadamune directed that the offerings be given to Nitta as an interim measure, while explicitly leaving the question of the ichinomiya title undecided.
A bronze temple bell dedicated to Hirasaki Shrine in 1297 identified it as the first shrine of the province. One interpretation holds that Nitta Shrine had replaced Hirasaki as ichinomiya by the end of the Kamakura period, but documents from the sixteenth century continued to place Hirasaki among institutions bearing the title “First-Rank Kaimon.”
Shimazu Protection and Early Modern Rebuilding
During the Sengoku period, an era of prolonged warfare among competing regional lords, Hirasaki Shrine was protected by the Ei clan, powerful retainers of the Shimazu. In 1571, an internal conflict within the Ei family caused the loss of approximately 1,900 cho of shrine land and, according to one tradition, largely destroyed the shrine buildings. The sanctuary was soon restored under Shimazu protection. The Shimazu are also said to have drawn lots at the shrine when determining military strategy.
Shimazu Yoshihisa later donated approximately 24 cho of land to Hirasaki Shrine, probably in 1592. In 1610, the Shimazu rebuilt the main shrine complex. The work included the main hall, offering hall, worship hall, long halls, food-offering building, imperial envoy hall, ablution pavilion, gatekeeper buildings, office, treasure storehouse, amulet-distribution office, and torii, the traditional gateway marking a shrine entrance. The buildings were remodeled in 1787.
Because it faced the open sea, Hirasaki Shrine was worshiped from an early period as a protector of navigation. From the Edo period onward, envoys from the Ryukyu Islands also revered the shrine. Its former Buddhist associated temple was Zuiō-in, and its honji, understood in medieval Japanese religion as the Buddhist counterpart of a kami, was Sho Kannon.
Deities, Festivals, and Modern Status
The principal enshrined deity is O-hirume-no-muchi-no-Mikoto, identified with Amaterasu, the sun kami of Japanese imperial and Shinto traditions. The shrine also lists Ame-no-Oshihomimi, Ame-no-Hohi, Amatsuhikone, Ikutsuhikone, Kumano Kusubi, Tagorihime, Sayorihime, and Tagitsuhime. Following the combination of nearby shrines after the Meiji period, traditions associated with Hirasaki also include Watatsumi, Sarutahiko, Kuni-no-Tokotachi, Toyotama-hime, Konohanasakuya-hime, Shio-tsuchi-no-Okina, and Omiya-hime.
A tradition preserved by the former associated temple identifies Omiya-hime as an incarnation of Amaterasu and links her, Emperor Tenchi, and several subsidiary shrines with Mount Kaimon. These accounts place the deaths and subsequent worship of Emperor Tenchi and Omiya-hime at Kaimon during the seventh and early eighth centuries. Hirasaki Shrine’s historical parish figures vary considerably, with records giving approximately 2,000 to 3,500 parish households and between about 11,000 and 200,000 worshippers.
The principal annual observance is the Hoze harvest festival, held from October 14 to 16. The first day traditionally included an all-night performance by the shrine’s youth association of four sacred dances accompanied by drums and flutes. Before the early Showa period, as many as 33 dances could be performed. The second day is the regular festival, and the third is devoted to a divine procession.
The procession is organized in rotation by four parish districts. It includes armored warriors, a performer wearing the mask of Sarutahiko, a sacred horse, a portable shrine, and children. Approximately 300 people take part, traveling between 8 and 12 kilometres. At the temporary resting place, a ceremony gives thanks for the grain harvest. A return ceremony takes place at the shrine, where sumo is also held.
The Nagoshi, or June Lantern, festival takes its name from its former observance during the sixth month of the old calendar. Children offer lanterns decorated with drawings, while calligraphy and painting exhibitions form part of the celebration. Tradition connects the festival’s origin with Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s offering of numerous lanterns at the shrine.
In 1871, Hirasaki Shrine became a National Shrine of the Third Rank under Japan’s modern ranked-shrine system. After that system was abolished following the Second World War, the shrine joined the Association of Shinto Shrines and was included in its special-list shrines in 1948.
Remains
The shrine precinct lies north of the junction of National Route 226 and Kagoshima Prefectural Route 28’s Ibusuki-Kaimon Line. Mount Kaimon rises immediately to the south, while Lake Ikeda lies approximately six kilometres to the north. The precinct covers between approximately 12,000 and 18,000 square metres, with one local history giving separate figures of about 11,917 square metres for the precinct, 4,628 square metres for shrine-owned land, and 1,983 square metres of woodland.
Main Shrine Complex
Main Hall
The honden, or main hall, is a Gongen-zukuri arrangement, in which the main hall and worship hall are connected by an intervening structure. It is also described as an irimoya-zukuri building, a roof form combining a hipped lower roof with gabled ends, and has a copper-sheet roof. The hall stands in an arrangement that formerly allowed Mount Kaimon to be seen above its roof when approached along the path. Trees behind the shrine now obscure that view.
Supporting Buildings
The rebuilt complex includes an offering hall, worship hall, food-offering building, imperial envoy hall, ablution pavilion, long halls, gatekeeper buildings, shrine office, treasure storehouse, amulet-distribution office, and torii. The imperial envoy hall has a projecting porch with a karahafu, a curved traditional gable. The east and west long halls together cover approximately 86.15 square metres. The treasure storehouse covers about 16.53 square metres, the ablution pavilion about 6.61 square metres, the amulet-distribution office about 8.26 square metres, and the two gatekeeper buildings together about 9.92 square metres.
The main hall is a designated cultural property of Kagoshima Prefecture. The shrine’s associated cultural properties include a pine-and-plum makie cosmetic box, decorated with metallic powder sprinkled over lacquer, together with its contents and catalogue. This object has national Important Cultural Property status. Seven plaques from the Ryukyu Islands are designated cultural properties of Ibusuki City.
Mountain Sanctuary and Sacred Features
Mitake Shrine
The Okumiya, or inner sanctuary, is Mitake Shrine at the summit of Mount Kaimon. Tradition places its foundation in 886. The sanctuary occupies approximately 714 square metres and enshrines Izanami, O-hirume-no-muchi, Oyama-tsumi, Konohanasakuya-hime, Owatatsumi, Toyotama-hime, and Shio-tsuchi-no-Okina.
Kiyodokoro Enclosure
Behind the main hall is the Kiyodokoro enclosure. A wooden fence surrounds the area, which is covered with stones of various sizes. Tradition identifies Kiyodokoro as the tomb of Toyotama-hime, a sea-associated figure in Japanese mythology.
Tama-no-I Well
Near the shrine is Tama-no-I, a well traditionally identified as the place where Toyotama-hime and Hikohohodemi-no-Mikoto met. It has also been described as Japan’s oldest well and is associated with passages in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, early Japanese works containing myths, genealogies, and accounts of the divine age and early imperial history. A nearby place called Mukoiri Valley is traditionally identified as the couple’s residence after their marriage.
Former Subsidiary Shrines
Hirasaki Shrine’s outside subsidiary shrines included Kaimon Chugu, Kaimon Shingu, Kaimon Shrine, Kotearai Shrine, Yanagikushi Shrine, another Hirasaki Shrine, and Ichinomiya Shrine. Several are identified with later shrines in southern Kagoshima, including Toyotama-hime Shrine, Ibusuki Shrine, Mukoda Shrine, a Hirasaki Shrine in Akune, Suwa Shrine, and Ichinomiya Shrine in Kagoshima. Together with the mountain sanctuary and the main precinct, these associated places preserve the shrine’s broad connection with Mount Kaimon, maritime worship, and the religious landscape of southern Satsuma.
