is a

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It was erected by

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

in 1869 to enshrine the spirit of

Prince Morinaga (1308 – August 12, 1335) was a Japanese prince and monk. He was the son of Emperor Go-Daigo and his consort Minamoto no Chikako. Moriyoshi was named by his father as the head abbot of the Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei. Go-Daigo attemp ...

, who was imprisoned and later executed where the shrine now stands in 1335 by order of

Ashikaga Tadayoshi "Ashikaga Tadayoshi" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 624. was a general of the Nanboku-chō period, Northern and Southern Courts period (1337� ...

. For this reason, the shrine is also known as from the Prince's full name (Ōtōnomiya Morinaga). Prince Morinaga was

Ashikaga Takauji also known as Minamoto no Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. ...

's most dangerous political rival in Kyoto, so he was arrested with a pretext by him in 1334 and first kept prisoner there, then had him sent to Kamakura. Ashikaga's younger brother Tadayoshi held Morinaga captive for nine months in a small cave at the site of the present Kamakura-gū. When Tadayoshi was forced to retreat from Kamakura after losing a battle to

Hōjō Tokiyuki was a samurai of the Hōjō clan who fought both for and against the Imperial Court. His father was Hōjō Takatoki, a Shikken, Shogunal Regent and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kamakura shogunate. Biography Tokiyuki had fought against both the ...

, before leaving he gave the order for Morinaga's execution. The Prince was beheaded on July 23, 1335. The cave still exists today in the rockface behind the shrine, and is a tourist attraction. It is four meters deep and has an area of 12 square meters. It is one of the Fifteen Shrines of the Kenmu Restoration.

References

* Religious buildings and structures completed in 1869 1869 establishments in Japan Shinto shrines in Kanagawa Prefecture Fifteen Shrines of the Kenmu Restoration Kanpei Chūsha Former Beppyo shrines Independent shrines {{Shinto-shrine-stub

See also

References