Alleged Atago Shrine Shimominakawa

Further trekking behind the Maroudo shrine Main Hall led to Atago shrine Shimominakawa (愛宕神社下皆川). Shimominakawa is the name of the district that is probably coined by the name of ruler, Minagawa clan (皆川氏). According to the available info on the web, the one to the right Shinmei torii (photo below) is supposed to be the Atago shrine. The left shinmei torii (神明鳥居) stands in the middle of the long hill trail. I have no clue to which shrine the left torii belongs as there is no shrine nearby (except the Agato shrine to the right) 

Google map says the right shrine in the photo above is the Atago shrine. All the available info calls this Atago shrine. However, no crystal clear sign to signify this as the Atago shrine can be found in my fieldwork (or I was careless). Let's take a closer look at what I have found there.

Alleged Atago Shrine

What I found was five stone monuments providing us with some info regarding the shrine or the history of the district, Shimominakawa (下皆川). Here we go!

(1)登山百八度

(2)陸前国青麻（Rikuzen Province, Aoso; current Miyagino ward, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture）　青麻大神

(3)御中八湖修行　御中道修行　登山三十三度報恩霊　

(4)庚申塔

(5)小御度(?)大神

Five stone monuments

(1) The 108th anniversary of the ascetic practice of trekking Mt. Ohira 

(2) 陸前国 (Rikuzen Province,)青麻 (Aoso=blue hemp) is the obsolete address used in the early Meiji Period (1869-1876?) that roughly corresponds to the current Aosozawa (青麻沢), Miyagino ward, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. or thereabouts. 青麻大神/Aoso Taijin means the great deity of hemp, whose name was coined by the fact that the distant relative of Shinto priest, Yasumasa Hozumi (穂積保昌), who came from Yamashiro Province (current Kyoto Prefecture), instructed hemp cultivation there. Besides, he brought his clan's worshipped deities there and enshrined them in the cave in the gorge in A.D. 852. The shrine was originally called Aoso Iwato Sankoh-gu (青麻岩戸三光宮), Aoso Gongensha (青麻権現社), or Saga Shrine (嵯峨神社). At present, it is called Aoso shrine (青麻神社). Sankoh-gu (三光宮) means the Palace of three lights (sun, moon, and stars) in which three deities, Amaterasu (deity of sunlight), Tsukuyomi (deity of the moon), and Amenominakanushi (天之御中主/deity of stars, with which I cannot fully agree) were enshrined.

(3) This is to commemorate the attainment of the 33rd Buddhist practice of trekking the mountain.

(4) This stone tablet is called "Kohshin tower (庚申塔)" for a folk faith (called Kohshin) in Japan with Taoist origins, influenced by Shinto, Buddhism, and other local beliefs. I will come back to this later.

(5) Honestly, it's hard to recognize the third letter. It must be the name of a deity but not sure if it's Shinto or Buddhism (or both). Besides, I have never heard of the name of this deity... Shame on me!

Around 900 Atago shrines are dispersed all over Japan. It is very likely that, due to the name of the shrine, the divine spirit of Atago Shrine Shimominakawa was transferred from the Atago Shrine (愛宕神社) located on the summit of Mt. Atago (愛宕山) in Kyoto, the headquarter of all Agato shrines. 

What is known about the Atago Shrine Shimominakawa is a lot less than that of the Maroudo Shrine. Nobody knows when it was founded and the exact enshrined deities. But what we do know is Atago Shrine is recognized as the shrine for fire extinguishing that is indispensable for preventing desiccated winter mountains from wildfire. It makes sense to me that Atago shrine Shimominakawa is located in the skirt of Mt. Ohira. In addition to this, Atago Shrine is well-renowned for its inception of Atago worship (愛宕信仰)- a Shinto practice of worshipping the deity of fire (i.e. Kagutsuchi/カグツチ). Furthermore, Atago Shrines served as the school for the Buddhist practice called Shugendoh (修験道). It is tempting to ponder that, back in the olden days, the Buddist monks having faith in Atago worship went through Shugendoh there and made stone tablets (1) and (3).

I am not sure if you are familiar with (4) Kohshin (庚申). For those who are interested in this faith, please visit Wiki page as it requires countless lines to explain this intriguing custom here. To make the long story short, it is said that the custom was introduced to Japan by the Buddhist monks in Heian Period. The idea is all about longevity based on the belief that three bugs (called Sanshi/三尸 in Japanese; three Corpses) parasitizing in our body are the tattletales/traitors that get out of　the host’s body every 60 days to keep the Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝)/Ten tei (天帝) informed sins host committed. The more sins are reported and filed, the shorter the life span host gets. Three Corpses are believed to get out of the host's body at night when the host is asleep on the day called Kohshin. In order for the host to remain bugs within the body (so that bugs can't report sins to the Jade Emperor), hosts get together in a place and stay awake all night long by listening to the monk's lecture or just chatting over booze. It was introduced from China in the Heian period and became pretty popular in the Edo period in Japan. This is called Kohshin because Koh (庚) is one of the ten heavenly stems (a.k.a. Celestial Stems) and shin (申) is a monkey, which many of you readers know, is one of the twelve animals of the year. These two elements are comprised of a Sexagenary cycle that cycles sixty terms. Hence, every 60 days comes the day of Kohshin.

  

Three Corpses-image from Wiki

It appears that, in the past, the Kohshin practice was quite prevalent among indigenous people who built a Kohshin stone tablet there. This is not so surprising that the Kohshin stone tablet stands in the shrine because of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism but what is perplexing the most is (2). This stone archive (2) certainly indicates this alleged shrine is an Aoso shrine branch and divinity of the Aoso Taijin (青麻大神) was transferred from the headquarter of Aoso Shrine (青麻神社). 

In this entry, I did not mention anything about Maroudo Shrine but what was inscribed in these stone tablets gave me a big hint to "decode" the deity enshrined in the Maroudo Shrine.

To be continued to the final entry for Maroudo Shrine.

Maroudo Shrine in Ohira-machi Part One

When you visit shrines, especially prestigious or historical ones, you notice middle-to-small sized shrines within the shrine's precincts. They are collectively called "Setsumatsusha (摂末社)", a term that two names of shrines, Sessha/subordinate shrine (摂社) and Massha/peripheral shrine (末社) are combined. The definition to distinguish one from the other is vague, as a matter of fact. Yet, it is widely recognized that Sessha is inclined to enshrine deities closely related to the prime deity enshrined in the main hall. That said, those who are relatives, business partners, and indigenous deities whose position was taken over by the currently enshrined deities, whereas Massha enshrines deity not so related to the prime one (i.e. deities enshrined in the neighbor shrines that were merged into the existing shrine). 

In my previous entry, I introduced Maroudo Shrine in Itsukushima Shrine as one of the Sessha shrines. The enshrined deities in the Maroudo shrine are the five brothers of the prime female deity, Ichikishima-hime (イチキシマヒメ). Maroudo (客人) means "guest" or "invited". and, apart from Itsukushima shrine, there are several Maroudo shrines as Setsumatsusha. Due to its Chinese-style pronunciation of the same Kanji (訓読み), the Maroudo shrine is called "Kyakujin shrine" or "Kyaku Jinja (客神社)", in some cases. Here is the list;

• Kyakujingu (客人宮) in Jigozen Shrine (地御前神社)
• Monkyakujin shrine (門客人神社) in Hikawa shrine (氷川神社) - the most prestigious shrine in Mushashi Province (武蔵国一宮).
• Maroudosha (客人社) in Miho Shrine (美保神社)
• Kadomaroudo shrine (門客人神社) in Hinomisaki Shrine (日御碕神社)
• Kyakujin gu (客人宮) in Hieizan Enryakuji (比叡山延暦寺)
• Maroudo Shrine (客人神社) in Ouhi shrine (意富比神社)
• Kyaku Jinja (客神社) in Tomoika Hachimangu (富岡八幡宮)

I am sure there must be more Maroudo Shrines and the list goes on and on. Monkyakujin shrine in Hikawa shrine draws people's attention not only because Hikawa shrine is the Ichinomiya Shrine in the Musashi Province (that corresponds to the current Tokyo and Saitama) but it was initially called "Arahabaki Shrine (荒脛巾神社)", an enigmatic deity never appeared in both Japanese chronicles, Kojiki (古事記) and Nihon Shoki (日本書紀). Due to the lack of information, scholars ponder that Arahabaki deity has been worshipped in the northern part of Japan as an aboriginal deity among Emishi (蝦夷) tribe. Based on the hypothesis, it is speculated that Arahabaki used to be the prime deity enshrined in Hikawa shrine. Later on,  as Izumo tribes migrated there, they brought their own deities, Susanowo, his wife Kushinadahime and offspring Ohkuni, who are the current prime enshrined deities.  As the Yamato kingship expanded its territory up northeast by conquering the "rural" powers, their deities (Amatsukami) were enshrined in the new territory, hence domestic deities such as Arahabaki were forced to abdicate their position. For mercy, in some cases, domestic deities remained in Okumiya (奥宮), Sessha, or Maroudo shrine (as a guest who lost their host position). 

Yamato State (Image from Wiki)

I have nothing against this hypothesis as long as Maroudo shrine exists as Setsumatsusha. Nevertheless, at least five Maroudo Shrines exist as prime shrines! Four Maroudo shrines are listed on the Japanese Wiki and I found one more in Ehime. I repeat. That's not all. I am sure there must be more out there. 

• Kyaku Jinja (客神社) in Ehime - Kukurihime (喜玖理媛命/菊理媛神)
• Maroudo Shrine (客人神社) in Hiroshima- Ohnamuchi/Ohkuni (大穴牟遅命)
• Maroudo Shrine (客人神社) in Nagasaki -Ohyamatsumi (大山祇大神) and Shiogama (塩釜大神)
• Kyakujin Shrine (客人神社) in Kochi
• Maroudo Shrine (客人神社) in Chiba - Izanagi and Izanami
• Maroudo Shrine (客人神社) in Tochigi - Takeminakata (タケミナカタ)

The enshrined deity in these Maroudo shrines is not Arahabaki but the ordinary well-known Shinto deities. To be honest, I cannot find what is common among them! Well, the hypothesis goes on and on. It is likely that the indigenous original enshrined deity was not even allowed to stay in Setsumatsusha but was utterly kicked out by Yamato kingship and erased from the endorsed record...

"History is written by the victors". So said Winston Churchill. When history was unwritten or the archives were lost, there is room to ponder the past. 

In this and the following entries, I would like to review Maroudo Shrine in Tochigi city as this is close to my hometown and visited there years ago.

.

In fact, very little is known about this shrine. No Wiki page, no homepage, no priest is there, and only the Shinto geeks visit there and upload blog entries just like me. 

The shrine is located southeast skirt of Mt. Ohira (太平山), 341 meters tall (short?)  holy mountain previously called Mt. Miwa (三輪山) in the 3rd Century. Because Mt. Ohira isn't so tall, it is popular for hiking and visiting Ohira Shrine (太平神社) and other historical temples (but not this shrine). 

Shinmei Torii and Komainu dogs

Since it was pleasant Indian summer when I visited there, what I did was fieldwork.

Stone monument behind the shrine

It was damn painstaking to "decode" fading stone inscriptions written in ancient-style letters (see the image above).  ALL Kanji including those no longer seen in the present day. According to the Japanese blogger's entries I referred to, it appears that the stone monument sitting around the Main Hall is a copy of the oldest archive that is present to date (documented on the 20th of October, 1423), entitled "下野国磯山西御庄下皆川郷内客人大明神田畠事". The archive seems to be the letter mailed to the Shinto Priest in the Maroud shrine (from who???). It says the divinity was transferred on the 20th of October, 1423 A.D. from the Isoyama Suwa Shrine (磯山諏訪神社) located approx. 2 km southeast away from Maroudo Shrine. BTW, Maroudo shrine faces to the Isoyama Suwa Shrine. There are around 25,000 Suwa shrines and all of them enshrine Takeminakata (タケミナカタ). No exception. it appears that the current deity enshrined in Maroudo Shrine is Takeminakata, if his divinity was transferred from the Isoyama Suwa shrine.

Nevertheless, the stone monument crystal clearly inscribes Maroudo Daimyohjin (客人大明神) as the enshrined deity. "Maroudo Daimyohjin (客人大明神)" is, indeed. a term for Shinto deities related to Buddhism (due to the "syncretism of kami and buddhas" called Shinbutsu-shugo/神仏習合).  

Main Hall

Additional info can be obtained from the back of the stone monument standing in front of the Main hall (left side of the photo above). It is unknown when the shrine is founded. The previous main hall was built in 1897 and was renovated into the current one in 1990. Until recently, the annual ritual ceremony took place on the 20th of October. The names of Shinto priest and about 33 families of Ujiko (氏子; neighbors worshipping Maroud Shrine) members in 1982 were listed. Ujiko worshipped by calling the enshrined deity “Daimyohjim-sama”. The area of the shrine's precincts is 1487.61 square meters.

Inside of Main Hall. Who the hell is enshrined there???

Which one on earth is the enshrined deity in Maroudo Shrine???

Takeminakata? or 

Maroudo Daimyohjin???

Very enigmatic, isn't it???

To be continued...