The is a Japanese

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

Chichibu is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 61,159 in 26,380 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Geography Chichibu is in the westernmost part of Saitama. Unli ...

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

.Kotodamaya.com
"Chichibu Jinja"
retrieved 2013-1-26.

History

According to text in the ''Sendai Kuji Hongi'' (''

Kujiki , or , is a historical Japanese text. It was generally believed to have been one of the earliest Japanese histories until the middle of the Edo period, when scholars such as Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Tada Yoshitoshi successfully contended that it was ...

''), Chichibuhiko-no-mikoto, the tenth-generation descendant of the

Kuni no miyatsuko , also read as "kokuzō" or "kunitsuko", were officials in ancient Japan at the time of the Yamato court. Yamato period Kuni no miyatsuko governed small territories (), although the location, names, and borders of the provinces remain unclear. Kun ...

of Chichibu Province, established the shrine in the tenth year of

Emperor Sujin , also known as in the ''Kojiki'', and or in the '' Nihon Shoki'' was the tenth Emperor of Japan. While Sujin is the first emperor whose existence historians widely accept, he is still referred to as a "legendary emperor" due to a lack of info ...

to worship Yagokoro-omoikane-no-mikoto. The shrine contains * * * * During the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, the shrine merged with a neighboring temple, and was known as Myōken-gū until the separation of Shinto and Buddhism (''

Shinbutsu bunri The Japanese term indicates the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration which separated Shinto ''kami'' from buddhas, and also Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, which were originally amalgamated. It is a ...

'') in the late-19th century. In the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, it was one of 34 sacred sites of the old Chichibu Province or

Chichibu District is a district located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population 755 and a density of 77.58 persons per km2. The total area is 796.03 km2. History According to text in the ''Sendai Kuji Hongi'' (''Ku ...

. In the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

it took the name Chichbu Shrine, with the characters 知知夫神社 appearing on the tablet of the ''

torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simplest ...

''. In the system of ranked Shinto shrines, Chichibu was listed among the 3rd class of nationally significant shrines or . The shrine's grounds include a number of subsidiary shrines. A Tenjin Shrine,

Tōshō-gū is any Shinto shrine in which Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) is enshrined. Ieyasu was the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), which is the third and last of the shogunal governments in Japanese history. He was deified with the name , t ...

, and a Suwa Shrine are among them.

Events

The shrine hosts a number of events. The rice-planting festival takes place annually on April 4. The mid-summer Kawase Festival is celebrated on July 19 and 20. The Banba-machi Suwa Shrine festival is not annual, but occasional. It resembles the

Onbashira The are four wooden posts or pillars that stand on the four corners of local shrines in the Lake Suwa area of Nagano Prefecture (historical Shinano Province), Japan. The largest and most famous set of are those that stand on the four shrines ...

festival of the

Suwa Taisha , historically also known as Suwa Shrine (諏訪神社 ''Suwa-jinja'') or , is a group of Shinto shrines in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The shrine complex is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Shinano Province and is considered to be one of the oldest sh ...

. Chichibu's annual night festival draws the biggest crowds. Celebrated in December, it spans the first six days of the month. The parading of floats is listed as part of the national cultural heritage. The national government has also recognized the shrine's sacred dance (''

kagura is a type of Shinto ritual ceremonial dance. The term is a contraction of the phrase , indicating the presence of gods () in the practice. One major function of is , involving a procession-trance process. Usually a female shaman will perfor ...

'') as an important cultural asset.国指定文化財　データベース:主情報詳細
秩父神社神楽 Retrieved on August 23, 2008 Similar honors have been awarded to its festival music, the floats, buildings and other possessions.

References

:''This article incorporates material translated from'' 秩父神社 (''Chichibu Jinja'') ''in the Japanese Wikipedia, translated on August 23, 2008.''

External links

秩父神社
(''Chichibu Jinja'') website] {{Authority control Beppyo shrines Shinto shrines in Saitama Prefecture

History

Events

See also

References

External links