This is the eighth of the ex post facto shrine reports I compiled while under self-isolation during the  (now-lifted) Covid-19 State of Emergency in Tōkyō. 

History

This is the only jinja in the country where Emperor Bidatau, the ancestor of the Tachibana family is enshrined. It was probably built in 593 along with the Shitennō-ji temple to serve as the spiritual guardian of the  temple’s two medical institutions. Reflecting this, its initial kami were the kami of medicine, Gojō Ōkami and Sukunahikone-no-Mikoto. It was after this that Emperor Bidatsu was enshrined and the name of the shrine became Bidatsu Tennō-Sha. It became the tutelary shrine for what was then Gojō-mura in Higashinara-gun and was seen as offering protection against the emanations from the inauspicious north-east (Kimon 鬼門) direction. It is said that the grounds occupied by the shrine housed the residence of Emperor Bidatsu while he was still Crown Prince.

In more modern times, the Meiji Period to be exact, the shrine was given Village Shrine ranking in 1872 and in 1915 it was designated a Kanpei-sha 官幣社.