The Name

This is the first Hikawa Jinja I have come across which uses the "簸" character in its name rather than ”氷”: including this one my database includes just four, the other three are all in Fukui-ken. Sometime during the Edo Period the name was changed to Hikawa Daimyōjin. Coming into the Meiji Period the name was changed to or reverted to (?) Hikawa (氷川) Jinja, and it took the current version of its name, 簸川Jinja, in the succeeding Taisho Period on the reasoning that the name 氷川derived from the 簸川 in Izumo (Until 2011 Izumo Taiisha was located in 簸川-gun: in that year Hikawa was merged into Izumo-shi).

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History

Said to have been founded during the reign of the fifth (legendary) Emperor, Kōshō (475 – 393 B.C.). One source, JinjaJin (Japanese) is more precise, saying the foundation date was 473 B.C. It is also said that Hachimantarō (Minamoto Yoshiie, 1041-1108) spent some time in the shrine in prayer: given that he visited the nearby Hakusan Jinja and the proximity of the two shrines to each other, this would seem eminently possible. Also nearby is a Pure Land sect (Jōdo-shū) temple, Denzuin (伝通院), the founder of which, High Priest Ryōyo (了誉上人), apparently took an interest in the Hikawa Shrine and partly through his help in rebuilding it it became the main shrine for the Koisihikawa/Sugamo district. It was originally located in what is now Koishikawa Botanical Gardens and was moved to its present site in 1699 as a result of the reconstruction of Hakusan Jinja.