Kakinomoto Shrine (Akashi)
| Kakinomoto Shrine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Shinto |
| Deity | Kakinomoto no Hitomaro |
Kakinomoto Shrine (柿本神社 Kakinomoto-jinja) is a Shinto shrine in Akashi, Hyōgo. It is also referred to as Hitomaru-san.
The shrine's principal deity is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a historical figure who is reputed to have passed through the Akashi area during his life, and who was deified in the centuries following his death, as a god of literature, scholarship, fire safety, and childbirth.
According to tradition, the shrine was founded in 887 by the monk Kakushō, in the grounds of the Gesshō-ji temple. It moved to its current location to accommodate the construction of Akashi Castle.
Enshrined deities
[edit]The shrine's principal deity is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro,[1] a god of waka poetry[1] and, by extension, scholarship and literature,[1] but also, by way of a pair of puns on his name, fire safety (火止まる hi-tomaru = "fire stop")[1] and childbirth (人生る hito-umaru = "person is born")[1]
According to tradition, Hitomaro passed through the Akashi area multiple times while travelling between his home in Yamato Province and his assigned district in Iwami Province,[1] and a poem he wrote on Akashi Strait survives.[1]
History
[edit]The history of the shrine is said to begin in 887 (Ninna 3),[1] when Kakushō (覚証), a Buddhist monk of the temple Gesshō-ji,[1] speculated that Hitomaro's spirit had come to rest in Akashi[1] and constructed a small shrine at the back of his temple.[1] Both the temple and the shrine were moved to their current location to accommodate the construction of Akashi Castle.[1] In 1723 (Kyōhō 8) the shrine was granted the first rank in Japan's Shinto Shrine ranking system[1] and the shrine's deity was given the title (ja) Kakinomoto Dai-myōjin (柿本大明神).[1]
Name
[edit]The shrine is familiarly referred to by local people with the nickname Hitomaru-san (人丸さん).[1]
Monuments and architecture
[edit]In the shrine grounds is a monument constructed on the order of Matsudaira Nobuyuki,[1] inscribed with a 1,712-character biography of Hitomaro.[1]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Works cited
[edit]- Akashi Tourism Association (2017). "Jinja/Bukkaku: Kakinomoto-jinja (神社・仏閣 柿本神社)". Akashi Tourism Association website. Akashi: Akashi Tourism Association. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
Further reading
[edit]- 神道, 宗紀 (1 June 2013). 近世奉納和歌の研究 和歌三神奉納和歌の場合 (PDF) (Thesis) (in Japanese). Kogakkan University.
External links
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