Kakinomoto Shrine (Akashi)

Kakinomoto Shrine (柿本神社 Kakinomoto-jinja) is a Shinto Shrine in Akashi, Hyōgo. It is also referred to as Hitomaru-san.

The shrine's principal deity is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a historical figure who is reputed to have passed through the Akashi area during his life, and who was deified in the centuries following his death, as a god of literature, scholarship, fire safety and childbirth.

According to tradition, the shrine was founded in 887 by the monk Kakushō, in the grounds of the Gesshō-ji temple. It moved to its current location to accommodate the construction of Akashi Castle.

Enshrined deities

The shrine's principal deity is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro,[1] a god of waka poetry[1] and, by extension, scholarship and literature,[1] but also, by way of a pair of puns on his name, fire safety (火止まる hi-tomaru = "fire stop")[1] and childbirth (人生る hito-umaru = "person is born")[1]

According to tradition, Hitomaro passed through the Akashi area multiple times while travelling between his home in Yamato Province and his assigned district in Iwami Province,[1] and a poem he wrote on Akashi Strait survives.[1]

History

The history of the shrine is said to begin in 887 (Ninna 3),[1] when Kakushō (覚証), a Buddhist monk of the temple Gesshō-ji,[1] speculated that Hitomaro's spirit had come to rest in Akashi[1] and constructed a small shrine at the back of his temple.[1] Both the temple and the shrine were moved to their current location to accommodate the construction of Akashi Castle.[1] In 1723 (Kyōhō 8) the shrine was granted the first rank in Japan's Shinto Shrine ranking system[1] and the shrine's deity was given the title (ja) Kakinomoto Dai-myōjin (柿本大明神).[1]

Name

The shrine is familiarly referred to by local people with the nickname Hitomaru-san (人丸さん).[1]

Monuments and architecture

In the shrine grounds is a monument constructed on the order of Matsudaira Nobuyuki,[1] inscribed with a 1,712-character biography of Hitomaro.[1]

Notes

      References
      1. Akashi Tourism Association 2017.

      Works cited
      • Akashi Tourism Association (2017). "Jinja/Bukkaku: Kakinomoto-jinja (神社・仏閣　柿本神社)". Akashi Tourism Association website. Akashi: Akashi Tourism Association. Retrieved 2017-11-05.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

      Further reading
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