Police: 3 die after sword attack near famed shrine in Tokyo

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

December 8, 2017 at 17:30 JST

Though I am not in the habit of posting news stories on this blog, I felt I needed to be a bit more timely with this one. All though the facts are not all known, it is obviously a great tragedy. It has all the more meaning for me as I have featured this important shrine in my book and have spent many hours on the grounds and interviewed one of the negi for the book. I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the family and parishioners, and encourage any readers of this blog to visit this historic shrine and its magnificent festival. For details, please see Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion

Reporters gather near the Tomioka Hachimangu shrine early on Dec. 8 after a murder-suicide incident occurred there several hours earlier. (Takayuki Kakuno)

A bitter sibling rivalry apparently escalated into rampage involving swords that left three people dead and one injured near a renowned shrine in Tokyo on the night of Dec. 7.
One of those killed was Nagako Tomioka, 58, chief priest at Tomioka Hachimangu shrine in Koto Ward.

She was stabbed in the back of her head as well as chest in an ambush perpetrated by her younger brother, Shigenaga, 56, and a woman, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Police later on Dec. 8 confirmed the woman was Shigenaga’s 49-year-old wife, Mariko.
After the attack on Nagako, Shigenaga fatally stabbed his wife in the chest and abdomen and then committed suicide by turning his sword on himself.

His body was found with wounds to the left chest and abdomen.
Police suspect Shigenaga remained bitter about being fired as chief priest of Tomioka Hachimangu in 2001. His older sister later took over the post.

According to investigative sources, Shigenaga was arrested and indicted in January 2006 on charges of threatening his sister with postcards that said, “I will kill you,” among other things.
According to Tokyo police, Nagako was driven to her home within the shrine grounds after a meeting with local police officers.

Police said Shigenaga and his wife were hiding by a nearby building.
After the car parked and Nagako got out, Shigenaga attacked his sister with a sword with a blade about 80 centimeters long, according to security camera footage. The time of the attack was 8:25 p.m.
The 33-year-old chauffeur, who had also gotten out of the vehicle, fled the scene but was chased for about 100 meters by Mariko. She slashed his right arm with a sword with a blade about 45 cm long.
He was listed in serious condition, but his injuries were not life-threatening.

Shigenaga then stabbed his wife in front of Nagako’s home before killing himself, the video footage showed. A sword broken in half was found near Nagako’s body. A shorter sword and two knives were discovered near Shigenaga’s body.

According to people who knew the siblings, they were close as young children and often played together at the shrine, which hosts one of the three largest festivals in Tokyo.
Their father served as chief priest until Shigenaga took over.

However, he was suddenly fired in 2001, and several sources said his financial problems likely led in part to his dismissal. A classmate of Shigenaga recalled that he enjoyed a flashy lifestyle.
The father resumed as chief priest before eventually giving the post to Nagako.
After Shigenaga was fired, Nagako consulted with police the following year and said there were problems within the family about the chief priest position.

Police are now looking into the possibility that other recent problems may have triggered the attack.
A shrine member in his 50s recalled a phone call from Shigenaga in July. Over about 40 minutes, Shigenaga laid out his complaints about his sister and the shrine.
“He occasionally broke out crying or began shouting, and I felt that he was emotionally unstable,” the man said.

A woman in her 70s who is a member of the shrine and knew the siblings said the two had argued over money even before Shigenaga was dismissed as head priest.
From five to 10 years ago, shrine members received anonymous letters that criticized Nagako.
“I was always worried that something like this might occur someday, but it is still a huge shock,” the woman said.

Tomioka Hachimangu shrine was established in the early Edo Period (1603-1867) and grew in popularity under the sponsorship of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
The shrine is closely linked with sumo, and several statues erected on the shrine grounds are related to the sport.

Sword-wielding ex-priest warned shrine about his ‘vengeful ghost’

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

December 10, 2017 at 17:55 JST

A brother who killed his sister with a sword had demanded that officials of a famed shrine in Tokyo dismiss her as chief priest or else he would “haunt” them as a “vengeful ghost.”

The warning came in a letter received by officials and representatives of shrine parishioners on Dec. 9, two days after the brother fatally stabbed his sister and wife before committing suicide at Tomioka Hachimangu shrine in Koto Ward.

The letter, written by Shigenaga Tomioka, 56, described the trouble he had had with his sister, Nagako, 58, over the years and other matters, according to people familiar with the letter.
The letter, written on eight A-4 size pages, bore a signature that is believed to be his, as well as a postmark showing that it had been dropped off in Tokyo’s Ueno district.

Police believe Shigenaga posted the letter before he went on the rampage on the night of Dec. 7.
In the letter, Shigenaga, who had been fired as chief priest of the Shinto shrine in 2001, argued that Nagako’s character was not worthy of the position. He demanded that she be expelled from the shrine and that his son be named chief priest.

“I am going to haunt you by becoming a vengeful ghost after my death if my demands are not met,” the brother warned in his letter.

Shigenaga and his wife, Mariko, 49, ambushed Nagako near her home on the shrine grounds with swords. Mariko also slashed Nagako’s driver, who suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries.
Shigenaga then fatally stabbed his wife and killed himself.

Police suspect the brother continued to harbor resentment over being fired as chief priest of Tomioka Hachimangu, according to investigative sources.

The siblings’ father, Okinaga, was chief priest of the shrine. But Shigenaga began serving as acting chief priest in November 1994, after his father became ill and was admitted to a hospital the previous month, Toshiji Sato, a lawyer representing the shrine, told a news conference on Dec. 9.
Shigenaga was promoted to chief priest in March 1995.

However, Okinaga resumed the role and fired his son as chief priest in May 2001, after his problems with women and money became a big issue within the family since 1999, according to Sato.
When Shigenaga stepped down, he apologized to family members, shrine officials and representatives of shrine parishioners for causing problems. He also promised “not to cause any trouble afterward.”
The family paid him a retirement fee for stepping down and offered financial support.
Both sides agreed that the monetary support would be terminated if he breached his promise not to cause problems.

But Shigenaga was arrested and fined for sending a menacing letter to his father and shrine officials in 2006. Nagako had reported the letter to police, and he started condemning his sister around this time, according to Sato.

Nagako was named chief priest when her father stepped down in October 2010. Okinaga died in July 2012.

With unanimous backing from shrine officials and parishioner representatives, the shrine proposed Nagako’s appointment to the Association of Shinto Shrines, an influential organization of which Tomioka Hachimangu was a member. The association rejected the proposal.

The shrine sought the association’s approval in June 2013, but again the request was not granted.
When Tomioka Hachimangu made its fourth request for approval of Nagako as chief priest in March this year, it came to light that a letter denigrating Nagako had been delivered to the association.
The letter was sent under the name of Shigenaga’s wife.

Sato believed that Shigenaga played a role in the letter. He said he sent a letter dated April 25 to the brother, warning him against such behavior. On May 29, a board of senior officials at Tomioka Hachimangu adopted a resolution to leave the association. Sato said he was entrusted to take care of procedures following Nagako’s decision to withdraw the shrine’s membership.

The lawyer said he also interviewed Nagako about details of how and why she took the post.
In late June, Shigenaga started denouncing senior shrine officials and some representatives of parishioners over the resolution. It was also learned that he made phone calls that slandered his sister.
Sato said he sent another letter to Shigenaga, dated July 10, warning him to end his series of harassment. The brother was living in Fukuoka Prefecture at the time.

The harassment ended, procedures to leave the association were completed, and Nagako and people involved in shrine affairs had developed a sense of relief.

Shigenaga killed his sister on Dec. 7. “We could have taken measures to respond if new harassment had taken place,” Sato said. “I am sorry about the attack.”

Shigenaga also apparently created problems for others after he moved to Fukuoka Prefecture from Tokyo several years ago. Neighbors in the prefecture in Kyushu said disputes erupted between Shigenaga and local residents over his car’s parking space and other issues. “I had not seen his car for several months, so I assumed that he had gone somewhere else,” a woman in the neighborhood said.

Slaying of priest, murder-suicide planned well in advance: police

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

December 12, 2017 at 15:05 JST

The wife of a murderous former chief priest made arrangements for her death before they carried out a carefully planned sword attack against his sister at Tomioka Hachimangu shrine in Tokyo, police said Dec. 12.
The Dec. 7 attack and murder-suicide at the shrine in Koto Ward left all three dead.
Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department said Shigenaga and Mariko Tomioka used an apartment about 30 meters from the shrine as a base for their plot to murder Nagako Tomioka, 58, the chief priest of Tomioka Hachimangu and older sister of Shigenaga, 56.
A sword with a 66-centimeter-long blade was found in the apartment along with a knife with an 80-cm blade normally used to cut up tuna and binoculars.
Police also found a letter written under Mariko’s name taped to a door frame.
“I, Mariko Tomioka, have decided to murder Nagako Tomioka because of long-standing animosity,” the letter said. “After I kill her, I plan to take responsibility by committing suicide, but if I am unable to do so due to fear, I have asked my husband, Shigenaga, to assist me in that task.”
The letter was dated Dec. 1 and was addressed to the police and media representatives.
Security cameras in the vicinity captured footage of Shigenaga and Mariko leaving the apartment building about an hour before the attack.
After Nagako got out of a vehicle near her home on the shrine grounds, Shigenaga fatally stabbed her with a sword, while Mariko chased and slashed the 33-year-old driver.
Two swords were used in the attack, and shorter knives were also found at the crime scene.
Shigenaga then killed his 49-year-old wife with a sword and committed suicide.
Police said the apartment was on the fifth floor and was rented out on June 30. Roads in the vicinity of the crime scene are clearly visible from the apartment.
Police believe the attack stemmed in part from Shigenaga’s continued bitterness about being fired as chief priest of Tomioka Hachimangu in 2001. His older sister eventually took over the post, and Shigenaga had expressed clear resentment over her promotion.

Shrine ‘cleanses’ murder sites, but worshippers may not return

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

December 15, 2017 at 18:05 JST

A popular Shinto shrine in Tokyo performed purification rituals at the sites of a double-murder suicide, but parishioners there remain shaken by gruesome assault that involved samurai swords.
At 4 p.m. on Dec. 14, 10 priests gathered in front of the home of Nagako Tomioka, 58, the chief priest of Tomioka Hachimangu shrine who was killed by her sword-wielding brother on Dec. 7.
The priests performed a special “oharae” purification ritual at the front entrance of the house as well as the area where the brother, Shigenaga Tomioka, 56, killed his wife, Mariko, 49, and then committed suicide.
The oharae ritual is usually conducted twice a year--the last day in June and New Year’s Eve.
Police suspect that Shigenaga, who was fired as chief priest of the shrine in Koto Ward 16 years ago, held a grudge against his sister, who had taken over the post. He and Mariko apparently planned the attack against Nagako well in advance.
“They did not hate each other in the past, but the situation somehow ended up with the worst possible ending,” a former employee of the shrine said about the siblings. “I feel terrible for the people who are connected to the shrine and who have worshiped at the shrine for many years.”
The shrine, founded in 1627, is famed for the Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri festival, one of the three major festivals held in the capital. The imperial couple attended the event in 2012.
Over the New Year’s holidays, Japanese customarily visit Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples for the first prayer of the year. Tomioka Hachimangu boasted about 300,000 New Year’s visitors every year.
Officials of the shrine held an emergency meeting on Dec. 9 to decide on an acting chief priest. Some parishioners said their faith in the shrine is unchanged, but others had different feelings.
“Although a shrine is a place where we receive the purification ritual, this horrendous case has rendered the shrine itself in need of the ritual,” said a woman in her 50s, who has made New Year’s prayers at the shrine for more than 30 years.
A 77-year-old man who lives in the neighborhood said the shrine has usually been swarmed with worshipers on the first three days of the new year.
“But I bet the number will greatly drop (in 2018),” he said.
“A letter written by the suspect was found that said he will curse the place,” the man continued. “I will never visit the shrine again. I feel sad because it was the pride of our town, and the liveliness will be gone.”
Shigenaga’s letter, written before he and his wife ambushed Nagako, demanded that his sister be dismissed as chief priest of the shrine and replaced by Shigenaga’s son.
“I am going to haunt you by becoming a vengeful ghost after my death if my demands are not met,” the letter said, according to police.
Tokyo police recently revealed that Shigenaga had, in fact, made 2,800 copies of the letter for delivery to shrines around Japan and parishioners. Each letter was signed and stamped with Shigenaga’s thumbprint.
Shigenaga left the stack of letters with a commercial handyman and gave instructions on Dec. 7, the day of attack, to “post them on the morning of Dec. 8 from anywhere other than in Koto Ward.”
Police confirmed that 1,000 of the letters were received by shrines around Japan. The other 1,800 were delivered to schools attended by children of Tomioka Hachimangu’s parishioners and eating establishments frequented by the parishioners.
(This article was compiled from reports by Yosuke Takashima and Mika Kuniyoshi.)

Photo Tour of Ueno Toshogu Jinja
 
In Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion, my focus was on delivering as much information as possible about as many shrines as possible. The original goal was 100 shrines but this would have necessitated a massive book at a massive price (as well as an irate publisher). Since I was unwilling to compromise the information for each shrine, I compromised on the number of photos. In this blog too, I have followed the style of the book and therefore images are again minimal. But on the assumption that readers of the book and of this blog might also be interested in seeing more of the places being written about, I will begin a series of Photo Tours with the recently renovated Ueno Toshogu Jinja.                                                                     

Gate and haiden of Ueno Toshogu

The main gate of the shrine covered in gold leaf, red lacquer, and polychrome under the roof. To the right and left of the door are rising and falling dragons, carved and polychromed. The dragons were carved by the legendary Hidari Jingoro.

            The jinja is one of several magnificent Toshogu shrines detailed in the book. All Toshogu jinja enshrine the spirit of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the progenitor of a line of shoguns who brought some 200 years of relative peace and stability to Japan known as the the Edo period. Ieyasu died in 1616. The shrine was founded in 1627 and the current building from 1651 is one of those miraculous survivors of the earthquakes, fires and wars that otherwise devastated the city of Edo over and over again, even after it became the official capital of the country and was renamed Tokyo (eastern capital) in the late nineteenth century.

The interior side of the classic and highly ornate four-post, karahafu gate.

           As is the case with most Toshogu shrines, Ueno is detailed with elaborate carvings and polychrome. Unlike most shrines its exterior is covered in gold leaf. The renovation of the shrine took six years and an undisclosed amount of money. Even the Huffington Post had a poorly written "gee, golly" blog piece on the reopening in January 2014. Unfortunately, the interior of the shrine is not generally open to the public and so my photos are only of the exterior—but what a magnificent exterior it is. This gongen-zukuri shrine is more correctly considered in the context of its original setting on the grounds of Kaneji Temple. This was a typical situation when shinbutsu shugo, the integration of Buddhism and Shinto, was the mainstay of Japanese religion from the Nara to the late Edo periods. Kaneji was founded by the monk Tenkai to protect the kimon (north-gate) of Tokyo from the entrance of demons. The grounds were arranged to reflect Kyoto's Higashiyama, and its famous cherry trees were planted at that time. Other remnants of the former temple grounds exist in the form of the pagoda, now located in the Ueno Zoo adjoining the sando of the shrine, Kiyomizu Kannon-do (a reflection of Kiyomizudera) overlooking Shinobazu pond (a reflection of Lake Biwa), and the Bentendo temple located in the middle of the pond (a reflection of Chikubushima). It is a fitting tribute to the man, the era and the enlightened (or perhaps mystical) attitude that allowed all the "gods" to live together in a sort of spiritual soup, which tasted miraculously good (and marvelously different) to everyone who partook of it. While no doubt that is an overly optimistic view of the situation, it is equally without doubt that the following era of "nationalistic, Japanese only" gods was part and parcel of the "us vs. them" mentality that culminated in World War 2.

One of the carved panels of the interior gate. The motif uses the rooster, symbol of the rising sun, sitting on a drum that is painted with the tomoe. These are surrounded by plum, pine, and bamboo trees (sho, chiku, bai), the Confucian "Three friends of Winter," a symbol of good fortune and prosperity.

Ueno Park became Japan's first public park in 1873 on the former grounds of Kaneji. As readers are likely aware, Hachiman and Toshogu shrines were the epitome of shinbutsu shugo.

The haiden of the shrine in gold leaf and black lacquer.

            Though no longer the religious center that it once was, Ueno continues to be one of Tokyo's most famous leisure spots combining as it does shrines and temples, historic sites, a zoo, and a large number of museums, as well as playing host to one of Japan's biggest cherry viewing festivals with over 2 million revelers. That wily old 'chairman of the sword', Ieyasu Tokugawa, would be proud.

The doors of the haiden are gold leaf but the interesting thing is the motif. This is the Buddhist "Wheel of the Law" which one would not expect to find on a Shinto shrine until one remembers that the Toshogu branch of Shinto was essentially created by the Buddhist prelate Tenkai and, apparently, no one dared to mess with Ieyasu's shrine even after shinbutsu bunrei.

A side view of the shrine reveals the gongen-zukuri style of haiden connected to honden, the former in black lacquer, the latter completely in gold leaf.

The side of the honden in gold leaf. Notice the intricate carving and polychrome under the eaves. Though the roof line of the haiden and honden are at the same level, the floor of the honden is raised higher.

Detail of the carving and polychrome under the eaves. Elaborate carving and painting is indicative of Toshogu shrines, but only Ueno is so extensively gold leafed.

The sukashi-bei fence in green and red surrounding the grounds is over six hundred feet long and one of only the surviving in Tokyo. The other is at Nezu Jinja. Again, notice the intricate carving and polychrome along the top.

Shoin Jinja (Tokyo)                                                                      UC

Shin Jinja haiden
(photos by Joseph Cali)

Date founded: Founded in 1882 The current building is from 1927.

Address: 4-35-1 Wakabayashi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154-0023

Tel/Information: 03-3421-4834. Open from 9am to 4:30pm. Website in English: eng.shoinjinja.org.

How to get there: Tokyu Setagaya Line to Shoin Jinja-mae or Wakabayashi Station, then 3 minutes by foot.

Enshrined kami: Yoshida Shoin (sensei).

Prayers offered:  Success in studies.

Reproduction of the famous Shoka Sonjuku

Important physical features: Shoin Jinja is not only a shrine but the burial place of one of the most important figures of pre-modern Japan, Yoshida Shoin. Yoshida was excited by beheading in 1859 at the Kozukappara execution grounds in the minami-senju area of Tokyo, after he was arrested during the Ansai Purge ordered by Ii Naosuke. He was reburied here three years after his death by some of his former students including Takasugi Shinsaku and Ito Hirobumi. According to the shrine's website, the grounds were once the villa of the lord of the Mori clan who was the daimyo of Choshu (present day Yamaguchi-ken). The shrine itself was erected in 1882 and part of this original shrine is currently the naijin of the newer honden which, along with the haiden, was built in 1927.

            As you enter the grounds, the sando takes you diagonally past the unexceptional mikoshi-ko on the right which houses the shrines mikoshi. Just beyond this on the left is the kaguraden donated to the shrine by the Mori family in 1932. Taking a path that branches off to the left, you arrive at one of the more unusual parts of this or any shrine; a graveyard. Shinto generally views contact with death as a sort of pollution and very few shrine grounds contain graves or grave stones. Of course, there are exceptions. Most notably perhaps is that of Yoshida Kanetomo (no relation to the Yoshida enshrined here), the founder of Yoshida Shinto, who is interred on the grounds of Yoshida Jinja in Kyoto, with a shrine built above the tomb where he is worshipped as a kami. In fact, Yoshida Shinto tried—unsuccessfully—to reclaim the burial ceremony from Buddhism which had always performed rites for the dead. But here, we have an entire graveyard with around twenty tombstones. These are all men related to Yoshida Shoin or to the early fight to overthrow the Tokugawa and restore the emperor to power. Men such as Nakatani Masasuke and Fukuhara Otonoshin who were students of Yoshida at the famous Shoka Sonjuku school in Hagi. It is also said that such illustrious figures as Ito Hirobumi and Takasugi Shinsaku are "reburied" here but I have yet to confirm the circumstances of their reburial. Nevertheless, the tombs clearly show that Shoin Jinja is a monument to the revolutionary spirit of those men who brought about the modern era in Japan.

            One more building of some importance here is a reproduction of the Shoka Sonjuku school, located at the right side of the shrine. This one-story, two-room structure is based on the original that is currently located on the grounds of the other major Shoin Jinja in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture. For several years from 1857, Yoshida lived and taught in the school that was begun by his uncle in 1842.

            Although not part of the shrine, the Wakabayashi Park next door is worth a quick peek. It is a small (3.5 acres) but very unusual space in that it is basically a forest of tall red pines, many of them leaning precariously toward the left (from the direction of the entrance).

Grave markers at Shin Jinja
(Yoshida Torajiro a.k.a. Shoin in the center
left to right: Fukuhara Otonoshin, Kuruhara Ryozou,
Yoshida, Kobayashi Yoshisuke, Raimiki Saburo)

Important spiritual features: As a kami, the worship of Yoshida Shoin can be seen in the light of the deification of extraordinary humans that makes up a very large group of kami in Shinto. In my book, "Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion," I have characterized this as being akin to sainthood in the Roman Catholic faith. However, unlike the spirit of self-sacrifice, often resulting in martyrdom that characterizes that tradition, deification in Shinto is a more casual and unregulated affair. Those deified are often less religious figures than they are powerful men who lived and died by the sword. In Yoshida Shoin however, (though he was a samurai willing and ready to die for the Emperor, as well as a swordsman who taught in the Ono-ha Itto-ryu style as transmitted by the Yamaga clan), we have a great teacher and pivotal figure of the late Edo era. As a writer and teacher his influence was widely felt, and he is often seen as one of the shining lights of the era—though that light was prematurely extinguished at the age of twenty-nine.

Shoin Jinja about 100 years ago

Description: Shoin Jinja is one of the two main shrines dedicated to this early leader of the Meiji Restoration. As I mentioned above, the other is in his native Hagi where he lived, wrote and taught at the famous Shoka Sonjuku. The Tokyo location is originally the site where some of his most prestigious students and admirers reburied him and then built the shrine in his name. Though Yoshida only taught a few short years, he managed to influence the future leaders of the Meiji government out of all proportion to the time he actually spent with them. One of the reasons for their great respect was that they saw in him the kind of man who his own mentor, Yamaga Soko (1622-85), described in his writings on the "the warrior's creed" (bukyo) and the "the way of gentleman" (shido), which later came to be defined as bushido in the early-eighteenth century classic Hagakure. Yoshida was not only a man of letters but also of action. He was one of those who realized that the only way to protect Japan was to learn as much as possible from foreign countries. His desire to protect his country from subjugation by the Western powers of the day caused him to attempt to violate the shogun's laws against foreign travel. He tried several times to leave the country, including on a Russian ship, before attempting to leave aboard one of Commodore Perry's ships, the Powhatan, in 1853. Having just signed a treaty with the shogun, Perry felt bound to observe the provision that prohibited aiding nationals from leaving the country. Perry returned Yoshida and a companion to the authorities who arrested him. After a lengthy imprisonment he returned to his native Hagi where he taught for several years. However his zeal to overthrow the bakufu persisted and in 1883, he wrote a goodbye letter to his father and set off to Kyoto to assassinate Mabe Jensho, a minister of the shogun's government. The plot failed and he was arrested and sent to Edo. He confessed to the plot and proceeded to denounce the Tokugawa and lecture his jailers on Japanese history. An observer of the events summed up Yoshida's life with the words, "He failed in each particular enterprise that he attempted; and yet we have only to look at his country to see how complete has been his general success." Men such as Ito Hirobumi, one of the architects of the restoration and its first prime minister, Yamagata Aritomo (1838-1922), the first Minister of War and modernizer of the Imperial Japanese Army who went on to become Japan't third prime minster, and numerous others such as Takasugi Shinsaku, who helped bring the Edo period to an end but did not live to see the dawning of the modern age. It is as much for these men and their achievements as anything else, that Yoshida Shoin and the jinja that enshrines him take their place in history.

Festivals: Ishin Matsuri (Bakumatsu Festival), 22 to 23 October (dates vary each year). Features the shrines mikoshi and a parade of people in period costume.

Hie Jinja (Akasaka)                                                             C

Haiden of Hie Jinja
(photos courtesy of the shrine)

Date founded: Founded in 1478 by Ota Dokan (1432-86). Currentt buildings from 1958.

Address: 2-10-5 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0014

Tel/Information: 03-3581-2471 Open 5am to 6pm.

How to get there: Take the Chiyoda Subway Line to Akasaka Station or Ginza Line or Marunouchi Line to Akasaka-mitsuke Station, then 8 minutes by foot. Also, take the Tameki-sanno Station on the Namboku and Ginza Lines and then 3 minutes by foot.

Enshrined kami: Oyamakui no kami (also known as Hie no kami and Sanno).

Prayers offered: Good childbirth, protection from harm (yakuyoke), good marriage and others.

Best times to go: When the cherry blossoms are in bloom in early April and for the Sanno Matsuri in June of even-number years.

While you're here, any readers who are interested in having a kamidana of their own, or would like to send one to a friend or family member, please check out this post: https://shintoshrinesofjapanblogguide.blogspot.com/2019/06/portable-kamidana-jinja.html

Important physical features: Akasaka Hie Jinja traces its beginnings to the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) and a man named Edo (unrelated to the name of the town) who formerly owned the land were Edo Castle was later built. A Hie shrine was later built on the grounds of the first Edo castle around 1478 by Ota Dokan who originally built the castle in 1457. The Edo castle compound was later taken over by Tokugawa Ieyasu who rebuilt it. This became the sight of the Imperial Palace when the fourteen-year old Emperor Meiji moved from Kyoto to the newly named Tokyo in 1869. The Ota clan claimed descent from Minamoto Yorimasa and were daimyo aligned with the Ogigayatsu branch of the powerful Uesugi clan, for who the Edo Castle was originally built. It was often the case that when a castle was built, a shrine was built or an existing shrine designated as its guardian shrine. It seems that Ota built both a Tenmangu shrine and a Hie shrine on the castle grounds. Both were later moved with Hie moving slightly southwest of the castle in 1607, ostensibly to allow average citizens to worship there. It burnt down in the Great Meireki fire of 1657 and was located on it’s present spot in 1659, when it was rebuilt at the behest of Tokugawa Ietsuna. The present shrine was rebuilt in 1958 after being destroyed in WWII.

The choice to create a bunrei of Hie—divided from the spirit dwelling in Sannomiya in Kawagoe—meant that this was a shrine in the shinbutsu shugo tradition of Ryobu Shinto established by the Tendai Buddhist sect of Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. Whether or not the original building was in the Hie style is not known but the shrine rebuilt in 1678 was a gongen-zukuri style. Currently the shrine is a variation of the gongen-zukuri style favored by the Tokugawa. The honden is quite small compared to its massive haiden/heiden. The honden has chigi and katsuogi and the entire roof of both buildings is clad in copper sheet. The roof of the haiden is truly impressive in scale, gained by the layering effect of sub-roofs and building wings. There is a very large chidorihafu on the front side but the ridgepole is higher than that of the building. This gives the impression that the building is oriented with the roof ridge running front to back. Two wings with slightly lower ridgepoles extend from the right and left sides of the building. There is a long step canopy in front with a karahafu. A copper clad kairou extends from the right and left and wraps around to form an inner courtyard. There is a 3-bay roumon gate at the center of this, with zuijin guardian figures in the outer bays. This is also of an unusual design with a single level, gable roof with chidorihafu and the kairou creates an additional covered opening to each side of the gate, giving it the impression of being 5-bays wide. A flight of stone steps leads to this gate, at the base of which is the distinctive Sanno torii. The zuijin figures—normally seated, male warriors with bow and arrows, are portrayed here as monkeys—the familiar of Sanno. The entire compound is actually on a small hill and the entire grounds are sloped and stepped. The grounds are surrounded at the base by a stone wall which helps to clearly separate it from the urban thoroughfares that squeeze in around it. There are entrances to the grounds on east (main) south and west (back) sides of the shrine. All have large Sanno torii, distinguished by a roof-like structure above the upper lintel. The south entrance is the newest, sporting a huge torii and a staircase that connects to a bridge over one of the surrounding streets. There are a number of smaller staircases also leading from street level up to the shrine grounds. Interestingly, the west or rear entrance takes you up a steep stair through a “tunnel” of red torii, to a small Inari shrine on the grounds. I say interestingly because it is probably the most photographed spot and many therefore mistakenly take this as the main image of the shrine. The grounds are a small tree-covered oasis, raised above the cold urban surrounding.

Important spiritual features: The kami enshrined at Akasaka Hie is Oyamakui no kami of the Susano-o lineage. The kami is mentioned in the Kojiki as being enshrined at Hiyoshi Taisha (Hie Jinja) on Mt. Hiei, and came to form part of a complex Shinto-Buddhist theology developed by the Tendai monks of Enrakuji. This essentially Buddhist form of Shinto came to be known as Sanno Shinto. The kami was amalgamated with the mountain kami of Hiei and is often represented as a monkey. I go into detail on this belief in the entry for Hiyoshi Taisha in "Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion." However most strains of Buddhism have now been stripped away other than the influences on the building style, the unusual torii, the statue of “Sanno the Mountain King,” and the name of the shrine’s famous festival the Sanno matsuri.

Description: As the former guardian shrine of Edo Castle, Hie Jinja has a deep connection with the city of Tokyo. Today it is tucked away on a small hill in the midst of the Akasaka district. It sits a short distance behind the National Diet Building, the seat of the Japanese government. It is the home of one of the “Big Three” Tokyo matsuri, which include the Sanja matsuri, and the Kanda matsuri (actually big four if one includes the Fukagawa Festival of Tomioka Hachimangu). Many prints from the Edo period depict the Sanno matsuri and it’s tall floats, topped by various historic and mythical figures. These large festivals—originally inspired by the Gion matsuri of Yasaka Jinja in Kyoto—were known as Tenka matsuri and spread to outlying cities where the tradition is continued in the Kawagoe matsuri, Sawara matsuri, Ome Taisai and many others in the Kanto area. However the forty-five tall floats of Hie were abandoned, apparently due to the construction of overpasses in Tokyo from the Meiji Era on. Today, though sporting only the shrine's mikoshi, the festival still attracts huge crowds. Though the festival is actually held every year, the larger procession of about 500 people, called the Jinkosai, is held in even number years only, alternating with the Kanda matsuri.

Reisai (main festival) of Hie Jinja

Festivals: Sanno Matsuri, 15 June in even number years. A procession of 500 people with the mikoshi of Akasaka Hie Jinja, leave the shrine at 8am and parade around the Imperial Palace, Tokyo Station and other landmark sites, before returning to the shrine at 5pm. The chief priest also enters the Imperial Palace grounds to pray for the well being of the Imperial family, the only shrine permitted this privilege since the Edo era when the shogun still occupied the grounds.