Thursday, July 10, 2014

Toda Hachimangu part 2



This is a follow on post from the previous. The defensive gate at Toda Hachimangu.


As a Hachimangu, the enshrined deity is Hachiman, which came to be equated with Ojin, the emperor whose name was Homuda Wake, as well as his mother Jingu. As the tutelary deity for samurai, there is almost always one associated with castles. The interior has a nice ceiling painting of a dragon.


The largest of the secondary shrines within the grounds is a Takeuchi Shrine just to the left of the main shrine.
Enshrining Takenouchinosukune, a government minister who lived for close to 300 years advising 5 emperors. There is a Takenouchi and Hachiman combined shrine on the southern outskirts of Matsue, but I believe this one is the original and the former was constructed after the castle was moved from here to Matsue.


Thgere are other smaller shrines including an Ebisu, Taisha, and a Sakatoke shrine. Sakatoke seems to be another name of Oyamatsumi, elder brother of Amaterasu and Susano.


There is also a Katsuhi Shrine, which was the original shrine on the mountaintop opposite. The shrine was moved here before the Hachimangu was built. A Katsuhi shrine was rebuilt on the mountain top after the castle was demolished and I will find out more about it before I post about it next week.


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