Kumano Hayatama Taisha
The Kumano Hayatama Taisha ( Japanese. 熊 野 速 玉 大 社 ; also just Shingū ( 新 宮 )) is a Shintō shrine at the mouth of the Kumano River near the city of Shingū in Wakayama Prefecture , Japan .
It is said to have been founded by Keikō- tennō and, along with Kumano Hongū-Taisha , Kumano Nachi-Taisha and two Buddhist temples, belongs to Kumano-sanzan , the southernmost of the holy places and pilgrimage routes in the Kii Mountains , which UNESCO in the 2004 List of World Heritage Sites were added.
Until the late Kamakura period , complete rebuilding of the shrine ( sengū ) was carried out every 33 years , but this was then discontinued due to a lack of financial support from the government. It was not until the Nanboku-chō period under Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu that the shrine received substantial funds from the government again.
The current buildings date from the year 1951. Also the mountain Gongenyama Part of the shrine complex with several holy sites, including the addition Shrine ( sessha ) Kamikura-jinja where the Kami Amenokagoyama is worshiped. In the immediate vicinity of Kamikura-jinja there is a huge rock called Gotobiki-iwa, which is also venerated as sacred here. There is also a sacred tree ( nagi-no-ki ) of the species " Nageia nagi" on the shrine grounds . It is said to have been planted here in 1159 and has a trunk diameter of 4.5 meters and a height of 17.6 meters.
Kami of the shrine are u. a. Toyo-kumo-nu and Uhi-ji-ni as well as Ō-to-no-ji and Kuno-no-sa-zuchi-no-kami (as in Nachi-Taisha) and Izanagi (under the name Hayatama-no-kami ; according to the Nihonshoki , an independent kami born from the spit of Izanagi). Like the other Kumano shrines, the shrine had a long tradition of Buddhist interpretation of the revered gods, but this was stopped or abolished as part of the Shinbutsu-Bunri in the Meiji period .
The go- shintai is a wooden statue. Copies of this and the one in the Kumano Nachi-Taisha are exhibited in the Museum of the Kumano Hayatama-Taisha. The shrine itself has distributed over 3,000 bunrei to other shrines across the country.
A small side shrine stands between the two main halls, it is dedicated to the first three Kami ( zōka-sanjin or zōkasanshin ) Amenominakanushi, Takamimusuhi , and Kamimusuhi, which appear at the beginning of creation in Kojiki .
The legendary Takakuraji is revered as a kami in Takakura-jinja , which became a sessha in 1907 .
A well-known festival at the shrine is the Kumano Oto-Matsuri. It is a fire festival that is celebrated with many torches on February 6th each year (originally January 6th).
Web links
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
- Official Website - Japanese
- Photo gallery of the Kumano Hayatama Taisha - Japanese
- Photo gallery from Kamikura-jinja - Japanese
Coordinates: 33 ° 43 '53.8 " N , 135 ° 59' 2.3" E