Ichitani Munakata Shrine: Twin Auxiliary Shrines of Matsuo-taisha in Kyoto
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Unclassified
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Unclassified
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Sanctuary
On this page7 sections
History
Ichitani Munakata Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Japan, located in Arashiyama, Kyoto, where Ichitani Shrine and Munakata Shrine are enshrined together. Their foundation date is unknown, although shrine tradition connects their origins with a transfer of worship from Munakata in Tsukushi Province in 668, during the reign of Emperor Tenji. Another interpretation sees them as local tutelary shrines established near the point where the Katsura River, also known as the Hozu or Oigawa River, emerges from the Hozu Gorge and begins to flow more gently.
Origins and religious identity
The two shrines were originally independent institutions. A record from 870 states that Munakata and Ichitani, together with three other shrines near the Kadono mint, dedicated newly minted coins alongside the Kamo and Matsuo shrines. Ichitani Shrine appears in the Engishiki, a tenth-century compilation of court regulations and officially recognized shrines, as a listed shrine in Kadono District of Yamashiro Province. This classification made it a shikinaisha, or shrine included in the ancient court-recognized shrine system.
The principal deities are generally identified as Okitsushima-hime no Mikoto at Ichitani Shrine and Ichikishima-hime no Mikoto at Munakata Shrine. Both are female deities associated with the Munakata group of maritime and water-related gods. The Matsuo Shafu and the shrine particulars register reverse these attributions, and some regard that arrangement as the original one. The Brief Record of the Seven Shrines of Matsuo instead names Kotoshironushi no Kami as the deity of Ichitani Shrine. Kotoshironushi is associated in different traditions with prosperity, fishing, and political authority.
Affiliation with Matsuo-taisha
Ichitani Shrine and Munakata Shrine became connected with Matsuo-taisha by the late Heian period. A record from 1167 mentions an elderly woman who died at the temporary sanctuary of the Ichitani auxiliary shrine. In 1241, the two Matsuo auxiliary shrines burned, and their sacred objects were consumed in the fire. These references reflect their place within the developing network of shrines associated with Matsuo-taisha.
In 1244, a landslide blocked the Oigawa River, and a stone called Kagamiishi, meaning “Mirror Stone,” fell at Munakata Shrine. An illustrated plan of the Matsuo shrine precincts from the early Muromachi period depicts Ichitani and Munakata as separate but adjacent buildings. In March 1878, following the Meiji Restoration, both were formally designated auxiliary shrines, or sessha, of Matsuo-taisha. An auxiliary shrine is institutionally connected with a principal shrine and traditionally regarded as subordinate to it.
Place in the Matsuo shrine network
Both Ichitani Shrine and Munakata Shrine were counted among the Seven Shrines of Matsuo, a traditional grouping associated with Matsuo-taisha. Ichitani was also included among the Three Shrines of Matsuo, a smaller grouping within that religious network. The shrine entered literary culture as well: a poem by the Kamakura-period court poet Fujiwara no Tameie in the late Kamakura anthology Fuboku Wakashō refers to Ichitani and the Oigawa River in an autumn landscape.
Remains
Riverside setting and sanctuary
Ichitani Munakata Shrine stands near the southern bridgehead of Togetsukyō Bridge in Arashiyama, at the point where the Katsura River leaves the Hozu Gorge and changes to a gentler course. Ichitani Shrine and Munakata Shrine now occupy a single main sanctuary. The building is a two-bay structure in the nagare-zukuri style, whose gabled roof has a front slope extending forward to form a covered veranda over the entrance. The early Muromachi-period illustrated plan presents the two sanctuaries as separate neighboring buildings, providing a historical contrast with their present arrangement. One interpretation connects the name Ichitani with the small valley immediately west of the shrine.
Associated sacred images
Two statues of female deities and one image in the form of a deity are associated with the shrine. They are preserved and displayed in the treasure museum of Matsuo-taisha, together with images from other auxiliary and branch shrines connected with Matsuo. Kyoto Prefecture has designated this group of images as cultural properties.
