History

The origin of Hiyoshi Jinja is unclear. The Shinpen tells us that in olden times there was a Shinmei Sha on a small knoll in the north of Yagami Mura (矢上村) in the Tachibana district of Musashi Province. This knoll was known as Oisehara (お伊勢原). Tachibana district was part of what is now Kanagawa-ken, while Yagami was part of the current Kohoku and Saiwai wards in Yokohama and Kawasaki respectively. This Shinmei Sha is equated with what is now Hiyoshi Jinja. The old main hall is said to have been built in 1758, and, along with the prayer hall and hall of offerings, was rebuilt in 1936. In 1939 Yagami was incorporated into the city of Yokohama and along with the area the shrine was renamed Hiyoshi. In October 1953 the shrine registered as a religious corporation and became affiliated with the Association of Shintō Shrines. In 1976 the main hall was again renovated. This was followed by the ceremonial transfer of the deity Amaterashima-susume-Ōmikami­­­ from Ise Jingū via the kanjō process. This is commemorated each year in a festival on August 28.

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Description

7-8 minutes on foot from Hiyoshi Station. Note that the calligraphy to the left of the shrine name in the shingaku is by the then gūji (chief priest) of Meiji Jingū, Date Tatsumi (伊達巽). To me the most interesting feature of the shrine is the in-ground Yagamiten Jinja. Although the name reflects the pre-1939 name of the area, the shrine itself was not built until 2002, and, as the addition of “ten” to Yagami suggests, it is dedicated to Sugawara Michizane, the kami of scholarship, the 1,100th anniversary of whose death fell in that year.