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Nearest station

Kita Sandō

Fukutoshin  Line

Tōkyō-to, Shibuya-ku, Sendagaya 1-1-24

東京都渋谷区千駄ヶ谷1-1-24

鳩森八幡神社 

 Hatonomori Hachiman Jinja

Home page: (Japanese)

July 5. 2017

History

A long time ago in the sky above a woods near the present site of the shrine, auspicious clouds (瑞雲, zui-un) often drifted by. One day when the sky was a clear blue a white cloud descended and the astonished people of the village fled into the woods: as they did this a flock of white doves suddenly took off and flew to the west.  The villagers took this as evidence that there was a kami present in the woods and built a hokora there, giving it the name “hato-no-mori,”  lit. "dove woods".

Moving into historical times, 860 A.D., the Tendai priest Ennin was on a preaching tour in Kantō and the villagers of Hatonomori entreated him to consecrate a shintai in their hokora: he created statues of  Emperor Ōjin, Empress Jingū, and Kasuga Ōkami, enshrined them, thus bestowing true Hachiman credentials on the  shrine. Sometime in the Kyūju period (1154-1156), a statue of the Buddhist god Amitābha by a priest called Enshin (恵心) was placed in the reconstructed main building in the spirit of the Honji Suijaku concept.

The shrine was almost entirely destroyed in the fire-bombing of May 26, 1945, and it was not until 1981 that reconstruction

work was finally completed. In 1993 though the main hall was remodelled to something like its original design.

Enshrined Deities:  

Main

Emperor Ōjin      応神天王

Empress Jingū     神功皇后

From Merged Shrines

None

In-ground Shrines: 

Shinmei-Gū       神明宮        

Sengen Jinja      浅間神社     

Kōga Inari Sha  甲賀稲荷社  

Earliest mention of:  860  

Annual Festival:         Sept. 15

Description

A little under 500 m from exit #2 of Kitasandō Station, it is one of the The Eight Edo Hachiman-Gū.  iIs two most distinctive features are doubtless its Fujizuka, formally known as  the Sendagaya Fujizuka, and the Shōgi Hall. Built in 1789, the Fujizuka is said to be the oldest one in Tōkyō, but at 7 m in height it is not particularly big, less than half the size of its counterpart in Shinagawa Jinja. It suffered severe damage in the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, but the reconstruction was faithful to the original. Note that in the photo "Peak of Fujizuka - Oku-no-Miya" the donations scattered on the ground in front of the shrine in lack of a donation box are all of just ¥1. The Shōgi Hall is just that, a hall, not  a shrine; if it were a shrine the 1.2 m high shōgi piece it houses, shown in the ema above, would. I suppose, be a shintai. The Shōgi Hall was donated to the shrine by the nearby Japan Shogi Association.

(Click on images to expand them)

Hatonomori Hachiman Jinja
鳩森八幡神社
Sendagaya Fujitzuka
浅間神社
Sengen JInja
Kōga Inari Sha  甲賀稲荷社
Shinmei-Gū       神明宮
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