Recent Additions​

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April 20:   Sugiyama Jinja　杉山神社

Origins are unclear, but there is a suggestion that it may have been right around the turn of the 9th century on property belonging to a certain Sekiguchi Hachiroemon. In 1574 it became the tutelary shrine of what was then Namamugi Village, and six years later was moved to its present location. By 1725 the stone torii was in place, and in 1877 the staircase leading up to the shrine buildings was built. The current shrine buildings were built after 1937.

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April 14:   Ushioda Jinja     潮田神社

Although the historical details are a little vague, this shrine’s origins are said to date to date to 111 AD during the reign of the 12th emperor, Keikō, by his son, Yamato Takeru.  When on his way to northern Honshu  to subdue the Yemishi people he stopped along the coast and built a small shrine in a grove of ancient cedars near what was then the village of West Ushioda.

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April 6:  Tsurumi Jinja　 鶴見神社

The shrine’s home page tells us that it us the oldest shrine in Kawasaki and Yokohama. It is said to have been founded during the reign of the 33rd emperor, Suiko (reigned 593-628) , and it was initially known as Sugiyama Daimyojin. It did not take its present name until 1920.

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March 16:  Ko Jinja　   少神社

If I have been describing the Sugiyama Jinja I visited in Hodogaya-ku as shrines about  which little seems to be known I am almost at a loss of words about Ko Jinja. I came across it while looking for Sugiyama-Gu, the two are 140m apart, and I have been unable to find out anything at all about it. It is a small shrine, its very name, Ko Jinja, literally means small shrine; and I will thus leave the five photos below to do the talking.

 

March 14:   Sugiyama-Gu 　 杉山宮

​At the risk of sounding repetitive I have to say that this is another Sugiyama shrine about which little is known. Even its name seems unclear. While the hengaku (扁額), the board showing the the shrine's name hung in front of the prayer hall, gives the name as Sugiyama-Gu, the Shingaku (神額), the board  bearing the shrine's name and hung at the top centre of the torii, gives the name as Sugiyama Jinja. 

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March 9:  Sugiyama Sha   杉山社

Another shrine about which very little is known. It is  mentioned in the Shinpen-Musashi-Fudo-Kiko where it is described as an old shrine, so it is probably at least several centuries old.

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March 3:   Sugiyama Jinja　　杉山神社​

There are four Sugiyama Jinja described on my website and I visited this one to add to the collection. Relatively little is known about it. When it was founded is unclear, but in the Edo Period it was situated in the grounds of a Buddhist temple and was regarded as the tutelary jinja for the then Wada Village. In 1873 it was given Village Shrine ranking.

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February 16:  Futaba Inari Jinja  双葉稲荷神社

Very little seems to be known about this Inari Jinja and there is no in-ground information board. Other than to say that it is about 300m away from Nomi Tsukune Jinja I will leave the photos to do the talking.

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February 7:​ Nomi Tsukune Jinja　野見宿禰神社

This jinja bears the name of the Kami of the Sumo world, Nomi Tsukune.  The Takasago Sumo stable used to be located to the east of the current site of the shrine.  The shrine itself was founded in 1884 on the site of the former residence of the Tsugaru family largely through the efforts of Takasago Uragoro, the founder of the stable which bears his name and is still active today. Nomi Tsukune was enshrined there the following year.

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January 31:​  Matsuo Jinja　松尾神社         

​This is another small shrine in the Otemachi/Kanda area and an Inari in everything but name. When it was founded is unclear.  In a document in the collection of the Tokyo Metropolitan Archive called "Details of Kanda Jinja" (Kanda Jinja Meisai, 神田神社明細) published in 1880, it is referred to as Matsuo Inari and its kami  is identified as Uka-no-mitama-Mikoto. It seems to have drawn its following from people working in nearby fruit and vegetables markets. In 1874 it had become an affiliate of Kanda Jinja.　

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January 23: Shintoku Inari Jinja 真徳稲荷神社

According to a notice board in the shrine grounds this Inari Jinja was founded as a branch shrine of Fushimi Inari Daimyojin and its kami, Uka-no-mitama-kami, was enshrined through the bunrei process when Kanda Myojin was established in 730 A.D. 1,143 years later, 1873, it became a subsidiary of the latter.

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November 23:   Chiyoda Inari Jinja        千代田稲荷神社

​Situated amid a red light district and overlooked by a love hotel, this is the shrine to which Junko Inari Jinja traces its origin. It was founded in 1457, apparently at the behest of Ota Dokan when he was overseeing the construction of Edo Castle and the enshrined kami was Fushimi Inari. In 1602, after Tokugawa Ieyasu had taken residence in the castle and expansion work begun, the shrine was moved to Miyamasuzaka in Shibuya.  Edo Castle had two alternate names, Kōjō (江城) and Chiyodajō (千代田城), and it is from the latter of these that the shrine’s name derives.

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November 8:    Oiwa Inari Tamiya Jinja  於岩稲荷田宮神社

​This is the second of the Oiwa Inari Jinja. Its history is virtually the same as that of the Shinkawa Oiwa Inari Tamiya Jinja described below.

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October 21: Junko Inari Jinja 子稲荷神社

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this shrine is its name. “Junko” is a relatively common first name for Japanese females, and to the best of my knowledge very few jinja sport female given names in their own name. Its origins date back to 1759.

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October 9:   Shinkawa Oiwa Inari Tamiya Jinja     新川於岩稲荷田宮神社

The Oiwa in the shrine's name is a woman who lived in the Edo period. She was by all accounts an exemplary wife and single-handedly restored the fortunes of the Tamiya family she married into. After her death​ in 1636 the Tamiya family kami became popularly known as Oiwa Inari. She became the main character in a kabuki play called Yotsuya Kaidan, and this has become arguably Japan's most famous ghost story. However, its author took great dramatic license and after being cruelly manipulated by her father-in-law Oiwa commits suicide and ends up as a ghost relentlessly haunting her husband, Iemon. In real life they were said to be a very happily married couple. 

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August 12:  Suga Jinja       須賀神社

​Said to have been founded as an Inari Jinja and was the tutelary shrine for Shimuzudani, the current Akasaka and Hitotsugimura districts. In 1634 it was moved to its current location when the outer moat of Edo Castle was built.
Its name derives from what could be interpreted as a homophonic pun on something Susano-o is said to have said after his bloody annihilation of the eight-forked serpent Yamato-no-Orochi in the upper reaches of the River Hi (簸の川) in Izumo prior to taking Kushinada-hime to wife. His words were “Having come to this land my heart feels SugaSugashi (心須賀、須賀し). This expression is still used In modern Japanese but is written with just one, repeated, kanji, 清清しい, also pronounced sugasugashii. Both expressions mean refreshing, bracing, brisk. He then went to live in a nearby palace.

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July 20:  Makata Jinja  麻賀多神社

​According to the shrine legend it was founded in the 42nd year of the reign of the 12th Emperor, Keiko, (AD 112) when Yamato Takeru was on his military campaign in the east of the country. He came across a cedar tree to the trunk of which he attached a mirror and told the population that if they worshipped the mirror as the deity Inbano Kunitama-Okitsukagami good harvests would follow. He also worshipped the great deity of Ise from afar. 

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July 8:   Asahi Hikawa Jinja　朝日氷川神社

This is one of the nine Hikawa Jinja located in Kawaguchi-shi in Saitama-ken. It does have a homepage, but that concerns itself more with the for fee services the shrine offers rather than describing its history. It is subordinate to Chinjyu Hikawa Jinja. Its home page tells us that it was founded sometime during the Tensho Era (1573-1592), the first year of which marked the end of the Muromachi Period. In June 1907 two nearby Inari Jinja were merged into it. During the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 the shrine was basically destroyed, and it was July 1938 before it was rebuilt. It was rebuilt again in 2003.

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