Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine
One of the oldest and most important Shinto shrines in Japan Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine is located southwest of Kyoto on Mount Otokoyama. It is one of the main shrines dedicated to Hachiman, popularly viewed as the kami (deity) of war and learning. The shrine's main festival (and that of its numerous branch shrines throughout Japan) is on the fifteenth day of the ninth month.
The shrine was established about 859 CE by a Buddhist priest, Gyoko, and its buildings have been rebuilt several times. The current design is from 1634, when the shrine was patronized by the third shogun of the Tokugawa period (1600/1603–1868). One of the early patrons of the shrine was Minamoto no Yoshiie (Hachiman Taro), and the shrine was a favorite of Minamoto and Ashikaga shoguns because of its association with warrior values, as well as with their clan ancestors. The shrine was patronized by the imperial house, and homage is paid there annually, in the presence of an imperial envoy, for the defeat of Taira no Masakado and Fujiwara no Sumitomo, both accused, at different times, of plotting to usurp the throne. The shrine's original association with Buddhism was severed during the campaign to expel the buddhas in the early years of the Meiji Restoration (1868–1912).
Further Reading
Kanda, Christine Guth. (1985) Shinzo: Hachiman Imagery and Its Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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