Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū

Infobox Shinto shrine
name = Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū
鶴岡八幡宮

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width =
caption = The stairway to the Senior Shrine ("hongū")
type = Hachiman Shrine
dedication = Hachiman
founded = 1063
closed =
founder =
priest =
address = 2-1-31 Yukinoshita, Kamakura, Kanagawa
phone = 0467-22-0315
website = http://www.hachimangu.or.jp/index2.htmlNihongo|Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū|鶴岡八幡宮 is the most important shrine in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Structure

This shrine, which used to be also a Buddhist temple and far bigger than today, was originally built in 1063 in Zaimokuza where tiny Moto Hachiman now stands, and was dedicated to the Emperor Ōjin, his mother Empress Jingu and his wife Hime-gami. Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate, moved it to its present location in 1191 and invited Hachiman [A "kami" is transferred to a new location through a process called kanjō.] , the god worshiped popularly among warriors, to reside there and guard his government.

Both the shrine and the city were built with Feng Shui in mind. The present location was carefully chosen as the most propitious after consultation with a diviner because it had a mountain to the north (the nihongo|"Hokuzan"|北山), a river to the east (the Namerikawa), a great road to the west (the nihongo|"Kotō Kaidō"|古東街道) and was open to the south (on Sagami Bay)Ōnuki (2008:80)] . Each direction was protected by a god: Genbu guarded the north, Seiryū the east, Byakko the west and Suzaku the south. The willows near the Genpei Ponds (see below) and the catalpas next to the Museum of Modern Art represent respectively Seiryū and Byakko. In spite of all the changes the shrine has gone through over the years, in this respect Yoritomo's design is still basically intact.

As one enters, after the first "torii" (Shinto gate) there are three small bridges, two flat on the sides and one arched at the center. In the days of the shogunate there used to be only two, a normal one and another arched, made in wood and painted red. The shogun would leave his retinue there and proceed alone on foot to the shrineMutsu (1995/06: 102-104)] . The arched bridge was called "Akabashi" ("Red Bridge"), and was reserved to him: common people had to use the flat one. The bridges span over a canal that joins together two ponds popularly called nihongo|"Genpei-ike"|源平池, or "Genpei ponds". The term comes from the names of the two families, the Minamoto ("Gen") and the Taira ("Pei"), that fought each other in Yoritomo's day.

The stele just after and to the left of the first "torii" explains what's the origin of the name [Original Japanese text available [http://www.kcn-net.org/sisekihi/genpei.htm here] ] :

The Genpei Ponds
The Azuma Kagami says that "In April 1182 Minamoto no Yoritomo told to monk Senkō and to Ōba Kageyoshi to have two ponds dug within the shrine." According to another version of the story, it was Yoritomo's wife Masako who, to pray for the prosperity of the Minamoto family, had these ponds dug, and had white lotuses planted in the east one and read ones in the west one, colors which are those of the Taira and Minamoto clans. From this derives their name.

The red of those lotuses is supposed to stand for the spilled blood of the TairaKamiya (2008: 17 - 23)] .

ub-shrines and infrastructures

Shrine|丸山稲荷社 with its many "torii".

Near Shirahata Jinja one can also find the nihongo|Yui Wakamiya Yōhaijo|由比若宮遥拝所, literally the "Yui Wakamiya Pray-at-a-Distance Place" (see photo). This facility, originally created for the shogun's benefit, allows one to worship at distant Yui Wakamiya (Moto Hachiman) without actually going all the way to Zaimokuza [ [http://www.kcn-net.org/e_kama_history/komachi_yukinoshita/area1_1.htm Komachi, Nishi Mikado] , by the Kamakura Citizen's Network, retrieved on July 23, 2008] .

One of the islands in the Minamoto pond hosts a sub-shrine called nihongo|Hataage Benzaiten Shrine|旗上弁財天社 dedicated to goddess Benzaiten, a Buddhist deity. For this reason, the sub-shrine was dismantled in 1868 at the time of the "Shinto and Buddhism separation" order (see below) and rebuilt in 1956.

Under heavy snow on the evening of "February 12, 1219 (Jōkyū 1, 26th day of the 1th month)" [Gregorian date obtained directly from the original Nengō using [http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/geschichte-japans/nengo_calc.htm Nengocalc] ] , Sanetomo, the third shogun, was coming down from the Senior Shrine after assisting to a ceremony celebrating his accession as shogun. His nephew (and son of second shogun Minamoto no Yoriie) Kugyō (Minamoto no Yoshinari), who was hiding behind the great ginkgo tree that still stands beside the stone stairway at the shrine, suddenly attacked and assassinated him.Azuma Kagami, January 27 1219 entry; Mutsu (1995/06: 100)] Kugyō had disguised himself as a woman and, with a sword, beheaded Sanetomo. For his act he was immediately beheaded himself, thus bringing the Seiwa Genji line of the Minamoto clan and their rule in Kamakura to a sudden end. The tree is over 1000 years old. .

Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū is the center of much cultural activity and both "Yabusame", (archery from horseback), and kyūdō (Japanese archery) are practiced within the shrine. It also has two museums, extensive gardens, three coffee shops, a kindergarten, offices and a dōjō.

Wakamiya Ōji

An unusual feature of the shrine is its 1.8 km nihongo| sandō|参道 (approach), which extends all the way to the ocean in Yuigahama and doubles as Wakamiya Ōji Avenue, Kamakura's main street. Built by Minamoto no Yoritomo as an imitation of Kyoto's nihongo|Suzaku Ōji|朱雀大路, Wakamiya Ōji used to be much wider and flanked by both a 3 m deep canal and pine trees (see Edo period print below)Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008: 56-57)] .

Walking from the beach toward the shrine one passes through three "torii", or Shinto gates, called respectively "Ichi no Torii" (first gate), "Ni no Torii" (second gate) and "San no Torii" (third gate). Between the first and the second lies nihongo|Geba|下馬 which, as the name indicates, was the place where riders would get off their horses in deference to the temple.

Some hundred meters further, between the second and third "torii", begins the nihongo|"dankazura"|段葛, a raised pathway flanked by cherry trees. The "dankazura" becomes gradually wider so that, seen from the shrine, it will look longer than it really is. The entire length of the dankazura is under the direct administration of the shrine.　

Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū before the Meiji era

Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū is now just a Shinto shrine but, for the almost 700 years from its foundation until the nihongo|"Shinto and Buddhism Separation Order"|神仏判然令 of 1868, its name used to be nihongo|Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū-ji|鶴岡八幡宮寺 and it was also a Buddhist temple, one of the oldest in Kamakura. The mixing of Buddhism and Shinto had been normal for centuries until the Meiji government decided, for political reasons, that this was to change [ [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=1110 Encyclopedia of Shinto - Shinbutsu Bunri] accessed on June 7, 2008 en icon] .

The separation policy ("shinbutsu bunri") was the direct cause of serious damage to important cultural assets. Because mixing the two religions was now forbidden, shrines and temples had to give away some of their treasures, thus damaging the integrity of their cultural heritage and decreasing the historical and economic value of their propertiesKamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008: 28)] . Tsurugaoka Hachiman's giant nihongo|Niō|仁王] (the two wooden wardens usually found at the sides of a temple's entrance), being objects of Buddhist worship and therefore illegal where they were, had to be sold to Jufuku-ji, where they still are [See article Jufuku-ji] [Mutsu (1995/06:174)] . The shrine also had to destroy Buddhism-related buildings, for example its nihongo|"tahōtō"|多宝塔 tower, its nihongo|"midō"|御堂, and its nihongo|"garan"|伽藍. Its huge nihongo|"sanmon"|山門 gate visible in the Edo period print is at Kōmyō-ji and is even now the largest in the Kanto area [Kamiya (2006/08: 189 -190)]

In important ways, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū was impoverished in 1868 as a consequence of this Meiji era policy. The imposed, inflexible reform orthodoxy of this early Meiji period was unquestionably intended to affect Buddhism and Shinto. However, the structures and artwork of this ancient shrine-temple were not yet construed as important elements of Japan's cultural patrimony. [After 1897 when the "Law for the Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples" was enacted, a range of other factors would come to be considered.] What remains to be visited today is only a partial version of the original shrine-temple.

Notes

References

* [http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hd1t-situ/azuma/121901.html "Azuma Kagami",] accessed on September 4, 2008; [http://www.archives.go.jp/english/ourholdings/popup/12.html National Archives of Japan 特103-0001, digitized image of the "Azumakagami"] ja icon
* Brinkley, Frank and Dairoku Kikuchi. (1915). [http://books.google.com/books?id=JlUCAAAAYAAJ&dq=Sanetomo+murdered&client=firefox-a&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era."] New York: Encyclopedia Britannica.
* Mass, Jeffrey P. (1995). [http://books.google.com/books?id=ijyj-9lHNigC&dq=Sanetomo+murdered&lr=&client=firefox-a&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "Court and Bakufu in Japan: Essays in Kamakura History."] Stanford: Stanford University Press. 10-ISBN 0-804-72473-3; 13-ISBN 978-0-804-72473-9
* cite book
last = Mutsu
first = Iso
coauthors =
title = Kamakura. Fact and Legend
publisher = Tuttle Publishing
date = 1995/06
location = Tokyo
language = English
id = ISBN 0804819688
* cite book
last = Kamiya
first = Michinori
coauthors =
title = Fukaku Aruku - Kamakura Shiseki Sansaku Vol. 1
publisher = Kamakura Shunshūsha
date = 2000/08
location = Kamakura
language = Japanese
id = ISBN 4774003409
* cite book
last = Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo
first =
coauthors =
title = Kamakura Kankō Bunka Kentei Kōshiki Tekisutobukku
publisher = Kamakura Shunshūsha
date = 2008
location = Kamakura
language = Japanese
id = ISBN 978-4-7740-0386-3
* cite book
last=Ōnuki
first=Akihiko
title=Kamakura. Rekishi to Fushigi wo Aruku
publisher=Jitsugyō no Nihonsha
location=Tokyo
date=2008
isbn=978-4-408-59306-7
language=Japanese
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1962). [http://books.google.com/books?id=0gweAAAAMAAJ&q=Sanetomo+murdered&dq=Sanetomo+murdered&lr=&client=firefox-a&pgis=1 "Sovereign and Subject."] Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society.

ee also

* Azuma Kagami

External links

* [http://www.hachimangu.or.jp/ Official website (in Japanese)]
* National Archives of Japan, Digital Gallery:
** Mori Koan
http://jpimg.digital.archives.go.jp/jpg_prg/jgmWeb.dll?TmpFileDisp4?si=0&md=0&ql=10&env=jpeg2k_images/ezu/nihonyochizu/148_soshukamakura_e.env&l=8&cy=4567&cx=4731&dy=400&dx=600&i=lossy/kouseisai/ezu/nihonyochizu/148_soshukamakura.jp2&file=temp_kuniezu_e.html Soshu Kamakuranozu] , drawn in 5th year of "Horeki" (1755).
* New York Public Library Digital Gallery:
** NYPL ID 119488, unknown photographer, albumen print, 189?-190?: [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?119488 Perspective beyond torii]
** NYPL ID 118907, Felice Beato, albumen print, 187?: [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?118907 Shrine steps and forecourt]
** NYPL ID 110031, Kimbei Kusakabe, albumen print, 188?-189? [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?110031 Great stairway]
** NYPL ID 118911, Felice Beato, albumen print, 187?: [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?118911 Senior Shrine structural detail]
** NYPL ID 118912, Felice Beato, albumen print, 187?: [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?118912 "Tahōtō," single-storied pagoda]