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Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Chūō-ku, Awaji-machi 4-4-3

大阪市中央区淡路町4-4-3

御霊神神

   Goryō Jinja

May 15, 2020

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This is the fourth of the ex post facto shrine reports I compiled while under self-isolation during the  Covid-19 State of Emergency in Tōkyō. I visited it in November 2014.
Hstory
Starting in 850  a small shrine called Tsubura Shinshi 圓神祠 on the coast of Ōsaka Bay at what is now Utsubo held a festival called the Yasoshima Matsuri in the year after the Daijō-sai. The enshrined kami were Seoritsuhime,  Tsuburahiko and Tsuburahime.  Variously known as Tsubura Jinja, Tsuburae Jinja, and Tsumura Jinja, the shrine became the spiritual guardian of the Tsumura district in Settsu Province. At the time it was located near Utsubokusunaga Jinja in what is now Tsubo-machi in Ōsaka’s Nishi-ku. In 1594 the leader of the Shikano Domain in Inabi Province, Kamei Korenori 亀井茲矩, gave a part of the grounds of his residence in Senba to the shrine; a small jinja, Inui-Hachiman-gu乾八幡宮, enshrining Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa,

Enshrined Kami:  

Main

Amaterasu Ōkami-aratama           天照大神荒魂

Tsubura-hiko-kami                           津布良彦神

Tsubura-hime-kami                          津布良媛神

Emperor Ōjin                                    応神天王

 

From Merged Shrines

Genshō Reijin                           源正霊神

In-ground Shrines:   

Kōtai Jingū               皇大神宮
Ebisu Jinja                恵比須神社
Sarutahiko Jinja       猿田彦神社
Tōgū Jūni-sha           東宮十二社
Matsu-no-ki Jinja     松ノ木神社
Daikoku-sha             大黒社

 

​Annual Festival:    October 17

Goryō Jinja  御霊神神

posthumously known as  Genshō Reijin, was built on the new land and merged with the existing shrine.Along with this the shrine was moved from Tsuburae to its current location in Senba. In the Edo Period, following a mispronounciation of  Gongorō the shrine came to be known as both Goryō-no-Miya and Tsubura Goryō: in the Kanbun Period (1661- 1673) the Goryō Jinja name was formally adopted-. In 1873 it was given village shrine status and in 1884 a Bunraku Theatre opened in the shrine grounds. Named the Goryō Bunrakuza, it flourished during the golden era which Bunraku was enjoying at the time. In 1926, however, it was burnt down in a fire which also destroyed the shrine's main hall. The hall was rebuilt in 1930, only to be destroyed again in the first firebombing of the  city by the US Air Force on March 13th and 14th of 1945. It was again rebuilt in 1957.

This bronze koma-inu and its counterpart were created in 1615 by Fujiwara Masatsugu 藤原正次, who was also a swordsmith of some note.


The Enshrined Kami
Amaterasu Ōkami-aratama is the manifestation of Amaterasu  Ōkami enshrined in the Aramatsuri-no-miya auxiliary shrine of the Ise Jingū Nai-Gū.     Of interest in this context is Seoritsu-hime, one of the original kami worshipped at the shrine. She, and she is one of the gentle sex as denoted by the “hime” in her name, is something of a mystery. She appears in neither the Kojiki nor the Nihongi, but she is mentioned in a norito used in the Great Purification ceremony. She is therefore associated with purification, but there is a theory that she is in fact Amaterasu Ōkami-aratama under a different name.  Tsuburahiko and Tsuburahime, a male-female duo, were originally the guardian deities of the Tsumura district in Settsu Province. 

(Click on images to expand them)

Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
Goryō Jinja  御霊神神
koma
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