Ōhi Shrine


Ōhi Shrine, also known as Funabashi Daijingū, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu located in the city of Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
WWW Official Site

History

Legend claims that Ōhi Shrine was founded by the mythical hero Yamato Takeru during his campaign in eastern Japan in the 40th year of the reign of his father, Emperor Keikō, to pray for the end of a drought that afflicted the area.
The shrine first appears in the historical record as "Ōhi-no-Kami of Shimōsa Province" in the Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, which records its promotion to higher ranks by the imperial court in the mid-9th century, starting from 863 when it was raised from the rank of junior fifth, lower grade to senior fifth, lower grade. It was promoted again in 871 to senior fifth rank, upper grade, and finally in 874 to junior fourth, lower grade. It is listed as a "minor shrine" in the Jinmyōchō section of the Engishiki.
While the shrine is currently dedicated to the imperial sun goddess Amaterasu, one theory suggests that it may have originally venerated a local solar deity who became conflated with Amaterasu during the medieval era.
Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and his son Yoshiie is said to have rebuilt the shrine somewhere during the Tengi era. In 1138, the area in which the shrine was located became a tribute estate or mikuriya of the Grand Shrine of Ise known as 'Natsumi Mikuriya'. The shrine became widely known as 'Funabashi Shinmei' or 'Funabashi Ise Daijingū' from the medieval period onwards, suggesting that the branch of Ise Shrine established within the estate was merged with it at some point.
Nichiren, the founder of Nichiren Buddhism, is said to have performed a ritual fast at the shrine and offered a Gohonzon and a sword to it. At the beginning of the Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu donated land worth fifty koku to the shrine. He is also said to have presented a wooden statue of Yamato Takeru to it in 1608. The statue was installed by Ieyasu's son and successor, Hidetada, in a newly-constructed auxiliary shrine in 1622, in which he also enshrined the deified spirit of his late father. Hidetada himself would later be enshrined there by his son Iemitsu, the third shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty.
The shrine was destroyed during the Battle of Funabashi in 1868. The main sanctuary was rebuilt in 1873, with the haiden and other shrine buildings being rebuilt in 1923, 1963, 1975, and 1985, respectively.

Structures

Auxiliary shrines

The shrine contains a number of auxiliary shrines within its precincts, some of which are:
  • Toyoukehime Shrine, a.k.a. Gekū
  • Tokiwa Shrine
  • Yakumo Shrine Ōtori Shrine
  • Ame-no-Mihashira Shrine
  • Yatsurugi Shrine and Yasaka Shrine
  • Kotohira Shrine
  • '''Funatama Shrine '''