- Hachiman
is the
Shinto god ofwar , and divine protector ofJapan and the Japanese people. The name means God of Eight Banners, referring to the eight heavenly banners that signaled the birth of the divineEmperor Ōjin . His symbolic animal and messenger is thedove .Since ancient times Hachiman was worshipped by peasants as the god of
agriculture and by fishermen who hoped he would fill their nets with much fish. In the Shinto religion, he became identified by legend as the Emperor Ōjin, son of Empress Consort Jingū, from the 3rd -4th century AD. However, after the arrival ofBuddhism in Japan, Hachiman became a syncretisticdeity , a harmonization of the native Shinto religion with Buddhism. In the Buddhist pantheon in8th century AD he became associated with the greatbodhisattva Daibosatsu .cite journal | last = Bender | first = Ross | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Hachiman Cult and the Dōkyō Incident | journal = Monumenta Nipponica | volume = 34 | issue = 2 | pages = 125–53 | publisher = | location = | date = 1979 | url = | doi = 10.2307/2384320| id = | accessdate = ]Hachiman also came to be noted as the guardian of the
Minamoto clan ofsamurai .Minamoto no Yoshiie , upon coming of age atIwashimizu Shrine inKyoto , took the name "Hachiman Taro Yoshiie" and through his military prowess and virtue as a leader, became regarded and respected as the ideal samurai through the ages. After his descendantMinamoto no Yoritomo becameshogun and established theKamakura shogunate , he movedTsurugaoka Hachiman-gū inKamakura, Japan from Zaimokuza to its present location, and started there the reverence of Hachiman as the guardian of his clan.Throughout the Japanese medieval period, the worship of Hachiman spread throughout Japan among not only samurai, but also the peasantry. So much so was his popularity that presently there are over 30,000 shrines in Japan dedicated to Hachiman, the second most numerous after shrines dedicated to Inari. Usa Shrine in Usa,
Oita prefecture is head shrine of all of these shrines and together withTsurugaoka Hachiman-gū andIwashimizu Shrine , are noted as the most important of all the shrines dedicated to Hachiman.The crest of Hachiman is in the design of a "
tomoe ", a round whirlpool orvortex with three heads swirling right or left. Many samurai clans used the tomoe crest as their own, and ironically, by some that traced their ancestry back to the mortal enemy of the Minamoto, theTaira of theEmperor Kammu line ("Kammu Heishi").Further reading
*cite journal | last = Bender | first = Ross | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Metamorphosis of a Deity: The Image of Hachiman in "Yumi Yawata" | journal = Monumenta Nipponica | volume = 33 | issue = 2 | pages = 165–78| publisher = | location = | date= 1978 | url = | doi = 10.2307/2384124| id = | accessdate =
*cite journal | last = Bender | first = Ross | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Political Meaning of the Hachiman Cult in Ancient and Early Medieval Japan | journal = Dissertation | volume = | issue = | pages = | publisher =Columbia University | location = | date= 1980 | url = http://rossbender.org/dissertation.html | doi = | id = | accessdate =See also
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Hachiman Shrine References
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