Hakozaki-gū
The Hakozaki-gū ( Japanese. 筥 崎 宮 ) is a Shintō shrine in the Higashi-ku district of the Japanese city of Fukuoka . In addition to the Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū and the Usa Hachiman-gū, it is one of the three large Hachiman shrines in Japan.
The Hakozaki-gū was built in 923 . The current buildings of the main hall ( honden ) and the prayer hall ( haiden ) date from 1546 . The doors of the main hall are always open, which is extremely unusual for a Shinto shrine.
Kami
The main kami venerated in the shrine are the Ōjin -tennō (whose umbilical cord is supposedly buried near a torii of the shrine, and who was worshiped here as Hachiman as a god of war by the Genji and various generals for a long time ), the Jingū -kōgō and the Tagori-hime (here identical with Tama-yori-hime , aunt and wife of Ugaya-fuki-aezu, and mother of Jimmu -tennō).
In addition, the clay Kami Hani-yashu-hiko and Hani-yasu-hime are venerated in the Nisshi-massha adjoining shrine . The field kami Ō-toshi is venerated in the Sōho-den side shrine.
Matsuri
The best known Matsuri aligned by the shrine is likely to be the Tamaseseri ( 玉 せ せ り , actually 玉 取 祭 , Tamatori-Matsuri ). It takes place on January 3rd every year and is one of the three biggest festivals on Kyushu.
Roughly speaking, it means that two groups of half-naked young men, farmers and fishermen respectively, clad only in loincloths ( fundoshi ), compete for a ball to hand over to the priest. The group that wins as a result should be particularly lucky in the new year, i.e. a good harvest or a particularly rich catch.
Web links
- Official Website - Japanese
- Information from the City of Fukuoka on the shrine ( Memento from February 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) - English
- Information from the Japan National Tourist Organization on Tamaseseri - English
- Photo gallery - Japanese
Coordinates: 33 ° 36 '52.63 " N , 130 ° 25' 24.09" O