Hachiman faith ＆Tsurugaoka Hachimangu
Enshrined kami
Hachiman-okami is the generic term for the kami enshrined, and refers to
Emperor Ojin
Hime-gami
Empress Jingu
*kami – the Japanese word for Shinto deities or sacred beings
Historical background of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu
I. Origin of Hachiman Faith
There are about 80,000 Shinto shrines in Japan. Interestingly, about 20,000 shrines out of them are dedicated to a particular kami called Hachiman Okami (八幡大神, the great kami of Hachiman). That this kami was also known as “Hachiman Dai Bosatsu (八幡大菩薩, Hachiman Great Bodhisattva)”,is indicative of the combinatory nature of Shinto and Buddhism in premodern Japan.
According to a historical record compiled in the Heian period (781~1185), the Hachiman kami had appeared in the Usa region in Kyushu in the middle of 6th century. This Hachiman was revered by a local clan, and worshipped as their tutelary kami.
At that time, there were many immigrants living near Mt. Kaharudake in the Usa region. The Yamato (Japan) Imperial Court considered these immigrants to be very important, because they were responsible for conveying to Japan the advanced continental culture from Korea and China. In time, Hachiman kami started to be worshipped by the Yamato imperial court.
While in Nara, the capital of the Yamato court, the construction of the Daibutsu (Great Buddha statue) at Todaiji temple (東大寺) faced many challenges., Hachiman kami issued a number of divine oracles on this matter, identifying good mines for gold and iron. As a result, the construction proved to be a great success.
Out of a deep appreciation for these oracles, a shrine dedicated to Hachiman was established at Mt. Tamukeyama in Nara and became a guardian kami of Todaiji temple.
As the capital moved to Kyoto in 794, Hachiman issued another oracle and requested the shrine move into the capital in order to protect whole country. Following the oracle, another shrine, named Iwashimizu Hachimangu (石清水八幡宮), was built in Kyoto in 859.
Since then, the basis of Hachiman faith sank its roots and began to spread among aristocrats including the emperor himself.
II. The Rise of the Samurai Class
Towards the end of the Heian period, samurai, the warrior class, who used to be guards for the aristocrats and their manors, began to enter politics. While the aristocratic government became corrupted, they were well united at the end of the 12th century under the two major clans, the Taira and Minamoto. Although the Taira were the first to seize power, they quickly succumbed to typical aristocratic habits.
In 1192, Yoritomo, the Minamoto chief, defeated the Taira and established a military government in Kamakura as Shogun (commander-in-chief). Being conscious of his origins, Yoritomo never followed the aristocratic way but was devoted to the politics of the realm and stayed far from Kyoto in Kamakura.
III. The Minamoto Clan and Hachiman Faith
In fact, the Hachiman faith owed much to Yoritomo’s ancestor, Yorinobu, who publicly announced that “Hachiman kami is the guardian kami of the Minamoto clan.” He gave as the reason for this announcement that “The Genji clan are descendants of Emperor Seiwa. Emperor Seiwa is a descendant of Emperor Ojin. Emperor Ojin is the main kami enshrined in Hachimangu. Therefore, Hachiman shrine is the guardian shrine of the Genji clan.”
Later, Minamoto Yoriyoshi who commanded a historic battle from 1051 - 1062, prayed for victory at Iwashimizu Hachimangu before sending his troops into battle and received divine arrows from the shrine. When he returned to Kamakura flushed with victory, he built a new shrine in 1063 on Yuigahama beach, and dedicated the divine arrows to the kami.
In 1180, Minamoto Yoritomo built the Tsurugaoka Wakamiya shrine on the present site in Kamakura. He was moved owing to its close associations with his ancestors, and his deep reverence for Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, as the spiritual backbone of his shogunate. The city of Kamakura thus had its origins in the Hachimangu shrine.
IV. Samurai Spirit
The Kamakura period was the first period in Japanese history when the non-aristocratic, samurai class assumed political power over the realm. During this period, culture based on Hachiman faith flourished, and “candidness and vigor”, came to be admired as the spirit of the samurai. These cultural characteristics constitute one aspect of the Japanese spirit and were inherited in due course by Tokugawa Shogunate
With the rise of the samurai class, the worship of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu was strengthened, and the later Ashikaga and Tokugawa shogunates inherited a sense of reverence towards Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. The present shrine building was built by Tokugawa Ienari, the 11th Tokugawa shogun in 1828.
In the Edo period, even ordinary people started to worship Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, and the practice continues till the present day. Now, it is one of the most popular shrines in Japan with more than 18 million visitors a year.