The Tsurugaoka Hachiman Jingu (鶴岡八幡宮) is a Shinto Shrine, the most important such shrine in Kamakura. The temple dates from A.D. 1063, when it was a rather small shrine commemorating the Emperor Ojin, his mother, the Empress Jingu, and his wife Hime-gami. Ojin was considered to have a divine spirit, Hachiman, the Japanese god of War and archery. In A.D. 1191 the first Shogun, Minamoto Yoritomo, "invited" the deity to relocate from his very small temple to the much larger one that was built for him.
The shrine can be approached from the center of town on the Wakamyama Oji, a 1.1 mile/1.8 km street which originally was only used for religious purposes but is now is a main commercial thoroughfare and shopping district.
The San-do, or third Torii on the Wakamyama Oji, indicating entrance into the temple precinct.
This stone arched bridge replaces a red lacquered bridge, which was used only by the Shogun to enter the temple grounds (everyone else had to use a regular flat bridge).
One of the more modern wooden bridges:
On either sides of the bridges are a set of ponds called the Gempei-ike, or Gempei ponds. They were built as a memorial of the Gempei War with one pond representing the Minamoto (the victors) and the other pond representing the Taira (the losers). The ponds were legendarily commissioned by Masako, Minamoto no Yoritomo's wife.
The ponds are on the east and west. The Eastern pond was planted with white lotuses and represented the Minamoto, the Western pond was planted with red lotuses and represented the Taira.
Flags now also mark the sides.
Apparently bonfires are enough of a risk they deserve a callout:
Always struck by the lack of litter anywhere TB, neat and ordered. Appreciate the work you put into these travel tales, gives me a chance to look up things on the InterNets.......:)
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Now that you have mentioned it more than once, I am noticing the differences here as well.
DeleteGlad I can support the pursuit of knowledge!
Kind of along the lines of your recent post, I wish I knew I could live someplace with enough permanence to do things like create large water features planted in different colors of trees, etc. At best, I do things now that I will likely never see much benefit from because it is in my nature to do those things.
ReplyDeleteEd, the ability create something or build something or plant something that literally will flourish after we are gone is a gift; it requires a certain sort of selflessness few have.
DeleteLooks like a busy place. Do they have many pedestrian-only streets in Japan?
ReplyDeleteLeigh, they do. There are walking covered malls that we visited during the course of our visit and some shopping districts as above that have pedestrians only. On the other hand, there are streets with cars and very narrow sidewalks, to where you feel you are walking in the roadway.
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